In My Great Taskmasters Eye
by Brenediction
Summary: AU Wally tries to replicate the experiment that gave Barry his superpowers, but he messes up the experiment and fails to give himself super speed and instead gains a different superpower that no one has ever seen before. Eventual Spitfire
1. New Origins

Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice.

About the story- Wally West didn't gain super speed from his failed experiment. Instead he gained a new power never before seen in the DC universe.

OoOoO

Wally West ran into his room and sat down in his computer chair. He sat there clutching a book tightly to his chest and trying his very best to calm himself down. This was easily becoming the greatest day Wally had ever had in his entire twelve years of existence.

The reason it was the greatest day in the young boys life was because he had just discovered the most amazing thing. His Uncle Barry Allen was the Flash, his favorite super hero and role model. Wally had been rummaging through his uncles desk drawer looking for a pen to do his homework when he found a journal his uncle kept.

Being the curious child that he was he decided to look through it and to his shock it chronicled his Uncle Barry's entire life as the Flash and all the adventures he had been on. It all seemed so obvious now, his uncle's big appetite, him disappearing all the time for no apparent reason, then reappearing just as quickly as he disappeared.

Wally decided to take another look though the journal to read up on more of his hero's adventures. He opened it up and began skimming through it. It outlined how his uncle's powers worked and various adventures he had with the Justice league. After reading for a few hours Wally was shocked to find a detailed outline of the entire experiment that gave Barry his powers.

"I could recreate it and become as fast as the Flash. If this works I could get superpowers just like Uncle Barry!" Wally exclaimed loudly.

"I'll be able to beat up bad guys, rescue people, and save the world. I'm going to need a costume and an awesome hero name!"

Wally could barely contain his excitement. He looked over the experiment and realized that he could use the lab his uncle has in the basement. The experiment seemed simple enough assuming the lab had all the necessary components and he had always been good at chemistry.

"It's just mixing chemicals together. What's the worst that could happen?"

OoOoO

_One week later_

An entire week had passed since Wally learned his uncle secret. When Barry had come home from work that night he had wanted to run up to his uncle and ask so many questions about his life as the Flash. It took all of his self control to act normal around the man.

After a week of waiting Wally finally had the opportunity he needed to conduct the experiment. Barry and Iris had left to have a romantic dinner and said they would be gone for a few Wally all the time he needed.

No babysitter had been available so they instead trusted Wally to be alone for the night. They had left him with a large pizza and said to call him if anything went wrong. The second they drove off to have their date Wally got to work on his plan on becoming a superhero.

Wally worked fast. He ran up to his guardian's room and opened his uncle's desk. Staring at him was the key to the basement. He grabbed it and immediately bolted for the door to the lab. He unlocked the door and walked in not even bothering to close it as he went in.

The lab was just as he remembered it, he had only been in once before when his uncle had wanted to show him what he did for his job as a police forensic scientist. The room had linoleum floors and the walls were white. It was huge and filled with tons of equipment, racks, and shelves filled with numerous chemicals and vials and machines that Wally didn't recognize.

Once he finished marveling at the lab Wally set off to work. With the journal as his guide he spent the next several hours working on recreating the experiment. Wally soon found himself mixing chemicals together and occasionally glancing at the journal to make sure he got all the measurements correct. He knew that if he didn't do this perfectly things could end in disaster, the last thing he wanted was to come out of all this looking like a mutated blob.

The main problem he was having was how messy the lab was. Wally assumed things would be alphabetized and orderly but clearly his uncle hadn't cleaned in a long time and wondered how the man found anything. This was a huge problem as it took a eternity for Wally to find anything he needed for the experiment.

Wally could tell his uncle was clearly doing some serious research. Half of this stuff he never even heard of, and the equipment was all high quality technology one would expect to find in a well funded government research facility. Barry was definitely holding out on him. After this he was going to ask for a bigger allowance.

"_Unless I get _grounded_ for the rest of my life for this."_ He thought to himself but the very idea he could get super powers kept his resolve strong.

"_Then again maybe this stuff has to do with him being the Flash. Maybe he's the Justice Leagues science expert or something." _Wally thought to himself. He was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened in the last week. Finding out a member of your family is one of the greatest heroes in the entire world definitely took some getting used to.

He looked over the journals instructions for the fifteenth time to ensure everything was perfect. He was almost done and any screw up now would be disastrous. He needed to find something to be the catalyst of the experiment. He looked around the lab checking every single place but couldn't find anything that suited his needs. According to the journal a small controlled explosion was needed to make the experiment Wally certainly didn't want to get caught in an explosion but he knew he had little choice in the matter, it seemed to be a key phase to gaining the same powers as the Flash.

He needed a liquid that was combustible. The experiment called for Acetone but he couldn't find any in Barry's messy lab. Suddenly a large vial caught Wally's attention.

The liquid inside was colored green and it had the chemical formula on the label that Wally didn't recognize. The label said cortisol and upon further inspection he realized it smelt like gasoline or something very close. Looking at a nearby clock Wally realized he didn't have much time until his uncle came home.

"It smells like it could explode …only one way to find out."

He walked over to the work bench where all the various chemical compounds for the experiment were cooking. Wally poured the vial of green liquid into a larger beaker, the second he emptied the vial the entire work bench caught fire and exploded before Wally could even cover his face.

Wally was thrown back and hit the wall opposite of him. He felt himself soaked in chemicals and he felt like his entire body was completely on fire. Overcome with pain he passed out on the floor amongst the ruined lab equipment.

OoOoO

Barry Allen loved being the Flash. He loved helping people, putting bad guys in prison, and protecting Central city. But even he needed a break from saving the world. When he first started out it was like a dream come true, however when he joined the Justice league things became more difficult. While he loved the job he hated how much time it took away from his family.

Going from stopping petty street crimes to saving the world from mad scientists and cosmic entities was a tough transition and took up more and more of his free time. Especially when your boss is the goddamn Batman. No matter what he did the man was always complaining about what he was doing.

"_Don't vibrate through the walls of the watch tower you might damage something Barry, Take missions more seriously Barry, put on pants Barry, blah blah blah I'm Batman."_ Barry thought to himself doing his best mental Batman impersonation.

Barry shook those thoughts from his head and instead focused on his wife who was relaxing in her car seat as they drove to their house.

That's why he loved nights like this. He had just finished a romantic dinner with his wife Iris and everything was peaceful. "Do you think Wally's mad Iris? I feel kind of bad for leaving him home alone while we went out for dinner."

Iris looked at her husband and shook her head. "He isn't mad, he's probably happy. We left him home alone with a large pizza and all his videogames. Heck he's probably had the time of his life. Besides he always hates going to nice restaurants. Last time we went to a nice place he claimed he was suffocating because there was too much atmosphere. Then he acted like he was suffocating for the rest of the evening."

Barry couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Wally had certainly grown up to be quite the comedian. It was hard to believe that it had been only a year since he brought that small innocent child into his home. Getting Wally to open up had been hard; the boy was shy and didn't trust anyone for the longest time. But once he finally felt safe and secure the boy had opened up and had improved socially by leaps and bounds.

He still had trouble socializing with kids and adults at school. To this day Wally had never invited friend over to their house. He didn't even seem interested in making friends. Barry was just grateful Wally's social skills were as good as they were. He was amazed the boy wasn't unbalanced after the life he had led before coming to live with him and Iris.

"Your right but I still feel bad for leaving him home. I think I should take him to a movie or buy him a new video game tomorrow."

"We were only gone for three hours. You act like we left him alone for a week." Iris responded.

Iris couldn't help but smile at her husband. Barry really was turning out to be a good father figure to Wally. She had been considering bringing up the idea of them having a child of their own. With Wally growing up so quickly she thought maybe adding a new member to the family was a good idea.

"_Besides Wally might enjoy having someone to play with."_ She thought. Maybe after they got home she would ask Barry about what he thought.

They spent the rest of the ride home in comfortable silence. Once they pulled into the driveway they both noticed the kitchen light was still on. "Guess the kids still up. Must be having the time of his life." Barry said smiling. Both of them walked into the house. Iris went up the stairs to put away her purse and jacket. Barry was about to join her but he saw something that made him pause.

Sitting on the kitchen table was the Pizza they had left for Wally to eat for dinner. The box looked like it hadn't been moved or opened. Barry walked up to the dinner table and opened the pizza box and saw that the Meat lover's special was indeed completely uneaten and stone cold. A horrible feeling settled into Barry's stomach. Wally would never ignore pizza…

Barry immediately checked every room of the house using his super speed. When every room was empty he began to freak out. A million horrible thoughts entered his mind about what could have befallen his beloved nephew.

"_Oh God what if he's been kidnapped…or dead? Or kidnapped and dead?"_

Before he could do anything else he noticed a strange smell. Following it he found it led to his lab…and the lab door was open. He never left his labs door open. He always made sure it was locked to make sure Wally couldn't get hurt. He felt a cold chill run up his spine. A million possibilities entered his head and all of them were bad.

Running into the lab he saw a scene that was all too familiar. He saw his work station ruined in the process of duplicating an experiment that he was very familiar with. Barry looked at the opposite wall and saw his nephew lying on the ground unconscious. Without hesitating Barry ran over and checked him over. He had suffered minor burns and chemicals in his eyes but his heart was still beating strongly. He saw his old journal sitting next to Wally and he filled in the blanks quickly.

"Don't worry Wally I know someone who can help." Barry said as he lifted his nephew into his arms and ran out of the lab. He ignored Iris as she tried to ask what was wrong. He ran as fast as he could to the large shed he had in the back yard. He opened the shed and ran in and pushed a button hidden under his woodworking table. The button triggered a mechanism that caused the wall in the back of the shed to open up revealing his private Zeta beam transporter.

"Computer reset destination from watch tower to Wayne manor." The second those words left his lips he felt the all too familiar beam envelop around him and he was sent to his destination.

OoOoO

Batman punched the training dummy shattering the lifelike mannequin into a hundred pieces. He always hated days like this, Gotham was unusually peaceful and that left him on edge. He had even gotten four hours of sleep last night which left him more energized than usual. So he decided to train in order to keep his skills sharp, he couldn't allow himself to grow complacent. He was about to get a new training dummy when he heard his computer announce a visitor.

"_Recognized Flash 0 4."_

Batman mentally groaned, as much as he liked Barry the man was getting a bit too familiar with him. Last week he had come over to borrow a leaf blower. He knew giving the man his own Zeta beam transporter was like giving him a key to the bat cave.

He turned around to greet his guest. "Look Barry whatever it is I'm a little busy wi-"Batman stopped talking the second he saw Barry.

The man was dressed in nice civilian clothes and looked like hell. But what caught Batman's attention was the injured child he was holding in his arms.

"My nephew needs help."

Batman didn't need any more explanation. He rushed them into the bat caves infirmary and started the taking care of Wally's injuries. Meanwhile Barry waited outside the infirmaries doors talking to Iris on his cell phone ensuring her that everything would be alright.

"Don't worry he's being taken care of by the very best. Just relax and I'll see you at home as soon as possible dear." With that Barry shut his cell phone and sat in a nearby chair and waited for Batman to finish taking care of his nephew.

After an hour Batman walked out of the infirmary. "He'll be fine. He has a few minor burns and scratches that will heal over the next few days." Batman said calmly.

"Now…do you mind explaining just what the hell happened?" Batman asked his voice turning serious. Barry sighed to himself and began his explanation of how he left Wally alone for the night and came home to find him unconscious after recreating the experiment that gave Barry his powers. As the story went on Batman's eyes continued to narrow.

"Then I brought him over here to you." Barry finished lamely rubbing the back of his head. He knew he screwed up, he never should have written down the experiment in the journal but he had wanted to record it for future scientific endeavors.

Batman glared at Barry full force. "Why exactly did you leave your journal and key to your lab in an unguarded desk drawer?"Batman asked angrily.

"Well excuse me Bruce but not all of us have the resources you do, we can't all be billionaire playboys. Besides I feel bad enough already I don't need you reminding me what an idiot I am." Barry said angrily.

Barry was angrier at himself than anything. He couldn't even bring himself to be angry at Wally.

"_I pretty much gave a twelve year old a guide to superpowers. What kid wouldn't try getting superpowers?"_ Barry thought to himself.

"Has there been any sign of the experiment working?" Barry asked suddenly. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. He was more busy thinking about Wally's safety.

Batman shook his head. "From the looks of it no. His body isn't showing any signs of your speed or hyper metabolism, although I will say that his brain activity is off the charts and his muscles are acting unusually. I'll need to do further tests and observe him to be sure. Until then it's best if you returned home."

Barry was about to protest but Batman cut him off. "Go home calm your wife down and come here tomorrow. You're no use to him when you're upset."

Barry reluctantly agreed. He really did need to get some rest and Iris no doubt wanted a full explanation of tonight's events, she sounded hysterical on the phone. He went over to the bat caves transporter and went home.

OoOoO

_Three days later._

Wally groaned as he stood up groggily. He opened his eyes and began to take in his surroundings and noticed he was in what looked like a weird hospital. The walls were made of grey steel and he was sitting on a comfortable bed surrounded by medical equipment. He rubbed his eyes and tried to remember what happened, he was almost done with the experiment then…it all blew up in his face. Wally felt his spirits sink; his Uncle must have brought him here.

Wally got off the bed and unhooked all the medical equipment hooked up to him. He began to flex his arms and check his body over. "I feel strangely good." Aside from the ache of a few muscles and the pain of a few particular burn marks he felt great.

He walked out the door of the room and was surprised to see a large dark cave with limited lighting.

"What the hell kind of hospital is this? It looks like the place mole people would hang out in."

Wally began exploring and what he saw astounded him, the cave was a natural formation yet there were electronics everywhere. As he continued his trek he saw a trophy area displaying numerous weapons and mannequins. However before he could investigate further he saw something that made his jaw drop. It was a black car situated on the other side of the cave. Walking closer he easily recognized it. It was a Batmobile…The real Batmobile was staring at him.

"_I'm in Batman's hideout…this is the greatest day of my entire life." _Wally thought to himself excitedly, his uncle was the Flash and he was now in Batman's hideout…it was like Christmas came early and brought all the other holidays with it. After the shock of realizing where he was wore off he had to ask himself. Why was he in Batman's hideout?

Wally could only guess that his uncle brought him here to get patched up.

Content with his own theory Wally decided to walk around the Bat cave a bit more, carefully trying not to damage anything. The last thing he wanted was for Batman to be angry at him; he was already on his uncle's shit list at this point. Then it suddenly hit him, the experiment…did it work?

Throwing caution to the wind Wally began running all around the cave. He did this for twenty minutes until he finally got tired and leaned against one of the caves walls. _"All that work and the experiment didn't do anything…it was all a waste." _Wally thought to himself sadly, this was quickly turning from the best day ever to the worst day ever.

He angrily slammed his fist against the wall and was naturally surprised when the wall opened up revealing a doorway. This would have amazed Wally but after all the surprises that happened today he was just too tired to care how strange things were getting.

"At this point lizard people could invade and I wouldn't be surprised." Wally mumbled to himself, he was tired and wanted to go home and forget this all ever happened.

Throwing caution to the wind he walked into the door way and began walking through what seemed a dark hallway. He walked up a flight of stairs until he found a door. He opened it and found himself in a really nice room, it was luxuriously furnished and numerous paints and statues added a good deal of atmosphere to the place.

Looking behind him he realized the door he entered through was hidden behind a grandfather clock.

"Very clever, much more clever than hiding your secret entrance behind a bookcase."

Wally decided to investigate the room further. It was…plain. Everything was clearly expensive and much of the furniture looked custom made but for the most part is was plain.

He continued investigating the room until he saw a large group of what appeared to be family portraits. _"Is this Batman's family?" _Wally wondered to himself, he look at the paintings and read out the names in his head. _"Solomon Wayne, Thomas Wayne, and Martha Wayne." _Those names really sounded familiar. He continued his trek around the room but then he found something that made him stop dead in his tracks. It was a trophy display and every single one of the trophies shared the same name. "Bruce Wayne? No way, Batman is the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne?"

Everyone knew Bruce Wayne; he was one of the world's most influential and powerful men. Half the electronics Wally used was made by Wayne tech. But he was based in Gotham city and there was no way he could be in Gotham…could he? Wally ran to the nearest window and looked out of it. Sure enough he saw Gotham city out in the distance.

"I'm in Gotham and from all the evidence Batman is Bruce Wayne…why not? It's not like this day could get any more surreal." The second those words left his lips he felt a large hand slap onto his shoulder and he was turned around roughly.

Glaring at him was Batman himself in his full glory dark glory. Wally wanted to run but he knew he wouldn't be able to run far enough or fast enough.

"_Now I'm really wishing the experiment had worked, If I had the Flashes powers I could outrun Batman."_ Wally thought angrily to himself, still depressed about his lack of powers.

"Been having fun exploring Mr. West?" Batman asked his voice deep and angry.

Before Wally could answer Batman began leading him away from the room. His death grip on Wally's shoulder didn't loosen one bit.

"Look Batman I can keep a secret I've known my uncle is the Flash for a week and I haven't told anyone and-"

"Look kid just be quiet. Let me check your injuries, we will discuss your need for discretion regarding who I am later."Batman said with a tone of finality that made Wally shut up.

Batman led him into what looked like a training room. There were weights, treadmills, and even a sparring area. He was sat down onto a nearby bench and Batman began checking his injuries. "You seem to have healed well these last three days. I'm going to go inform your uncle."Batman stated and he finished checking Wally over.

"Three days? I've been asleep for three days?" Wally asked, he couldn't believe he was unconscious for that long. Batman simply nodded and got up to leave.

"I'm going to get your uncle. He's been spending most of his time watching over you and investigating what you did in his lab. He's going to be happy to hear you're up and about."

At mention of the experiment and the news of his uncle worrying about him Wally's face fell. _"Man I feel like crap. I really screwed this one up." _Wally thought sadly. He looked up and saw Batman was leaving the room.

"I'll be back soon; my ward will make sure you don't misplace yourself again." With that said Batman left the room. Wally simply sat there with a confused expression on his face.

"Ward? What the hell's he talking about I'm the only guy here..." Just as those words left Wally's mouth he felt someone tap his shoulder. Wally quickly turned his body around and saw a boy a few years younger than him standing behind him.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Walled screamed, he didn't even hear the kid. Upon closer inspection the boy wore a red and black outfit with a cape and had a large R on the front. Along with a black domino mask that covered up his eyes.

"Sorry Habit I picked up from the big guy. I'm guessing since your wandering the manor you already know who the big guy is?" Receiving a nod from Wally he continued. "Allow me to introduce myself I'm Robin the boy wonder."

Wally had heard that Batman had recently gotten a sidekick. Some were even calling them the Dynamic duo. But he never imagined Robin the boy wonder who fought alongside Batman to be younger than him.

"You're so…young." Wally stated plainly "I mean you must be like nine."

Robin's eyes narrowed angrily. "I'll have you know I'm ten years old and I've been fighting crime for over a year."

"Dude your still ten. Is Batman a fan of child endangerment or something? I mean look at you, you're so tiny." Wally said while gesturing towards the boy wonder.

Robin began checking himself over, true he was a bit short but he was tall for his age. He was definitely taller than most boys in his class.

"That's not fair; you're older than I am. Besides it doesn't stop me from being an awesome crime fighter."

Wally was still trying to process the fact that Robin looked like the kids that would get beat up at his school. There was no way this kid could pull off intense ninja moves or beat up criminals.

"Please, you're so small I bet all those news stories about you being a ninja were exaggerated. Besides it doesn't look like you could fight your way out of a wet paper bag." Wally said teasingly, trying to get a rise out of the younger boy. He was surprised how at ease he felt around Robin. He would almost never talk to other kids at school but now he was having a full conversation with Batman's sidekick.

"I bet you a thousand dollars that you can't do even a single one of my moves!" Robin challenged .All he had to do was show Wally one of his more complicated moves he learned as an acrobat and he would win easily.

"Fine you're on bird boy; let's see these so called moves of yours."

Robin immediately ran towards a training area littered with numerous pieces of equipment. The floor was soft to cushion falls. Dick grabbed two small trampolines and set them up.

"Remember you owe me a thousand dollars, and I won't take a check from you."

With that said Robin jumped on the first trampoline and did a front flip onto the next trampoline, bouncing off of that one he did a backflip before landing on the group perfectly. Wally simply stared at the amazing display of skill and acrobatics but what surprised him was he wasn't intimidated. He knew he should have been but he wasn't, for some reason he felt like he could mimic the move perfectly.

Acting on this instinct Wally put himself in position ignoring the young acrobat's confident smirk and statement's that he has no chance. Running at the trampolines Wally executed the movements perfectly just as Robin had seconds before.

Robin had his jaw hanging to the floor he couldn't believe what he just observed. "It took me months to get that move down when I was a kid. How the hell did you do that?"He asked confusion evident in his voice.

Wally shook his head. "I've never done anything even remotely like that before, after watching you it seemed…easy to me. I can't explain it but I just felt like I could do it…and you owe me one thousand dollars." Wally said happily.

Robin's eyes narrowed. _"He's lying there's no way that was a fluke. I'm going to get to the bottom of this." _He thought to himself.

"Best two out of three?"

OoOoO

"I'm telling you your tests are wrong there's no way that's even possible." Barry said, as he and Batman walked through the Bat cave. Batman had managed to calm Barry down enough to walk, so that he could explain his test findings about Wally's health after the accident.

"Your faith in my abilities is very encouraging" Batman stated plainly, all his findings pointed towards the Wally having powers but Barry seemed to be in denial.

"And I'm saying that you're wrong, I looked at what Wally did and I can tell you with complete certainty that the experiment was done incorrectly, even if it was done correctly the chances of him getting any superpowers is one in a million."

"Except my tests show he was somehow exposed to the adrenal steroid cortisol that you created." Batman said making Barry duck his head in shame. "The dangerous drug that you left unattended in your lab for any child to play around with."

Barry didn't know what to say. He didn't think Wally was exposed to that chemical. It was his secret side project meant to help memory and maybe even someday cure Alzheimer's patients. He never expected anything like this to happen.

He knew that his lab didn't have the best security but he never expected a twelve year old to break in and try to give himself super powers. He never expected Wally to fumble around in there unattended; he thought his own words of warning and a lock on the door would be enough.

They continued walking until they were finally out of the bat cave and entered Wayne manor. Batman opened the door to the training area and what they saw astounded them.

Both Robin and Wally were practicing acrobatics that would have given any circus a run for its money. This was mainly surprising due to the fact Wally was doing moves most people took years to master, with no previous training.

"What did your tests say about my nephew Bruce?"

OoOoO

Authors note- First story ever written so please be gentle. I know it's an odd premise but for some reason this idea wouldn't leave my head. I have no Idea why I like the Idea of Wally getting a different power from the experiment that gave him Flashes abilities. I really didn't want to write this because the premise is so weird but then again…comics are weird. I've been reading more and more comics and I've come to the conclusion that the silver age never really simply became a bit more serious and dark. Also I didn't want to write this because I love Wally as Kid flash and seeing him without super speed is weird but I wanted to try this out as a experiment in writing. After all I've read a million stories from other genres of fiction where they completely change a characters powers so why not young justice?

This story was a challenge from a friend to give Wally superpowers that weren't in the DC universe, so I went with one from the Marvel-verse.

PM me with questions or suggestions.

A cookie if you can guess what power Wally got from the experiment.

Please review and say what I need to change or improve.


	2. Discovery

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice.**

OoOoO

Wally furiously tapped his pencil on the side of his desk hoping that time would go by faster. He was currently sitting in his final class of the day and watching the seconds go by on the clock. His teacher Mr. Brooks was droning on about United States history and Wally couldn't be more bored. He couldn't help but let his mind wander to the events of the last two weeks.

They were easily the most chaotic two weeks of his entire life. He discovered his uncle was the Flash one of the greatest heroes in the entire world, he tried to give himself super speed like his uncle and failed horribly, discovered Batman's secret identity, and he was now in procession of a new power no one had ever seen before...quite the week.

Thinking about Batman sent shivers up Wally's spine. After his uncle showed up in the middle of him and Robin doing acrobatics they had a happy reunion. Until Batman had dragged Wally off to another room and left him with a warning that made Wally fear for his life.

-Flashback-

"_**If you ever tell anyone my secret identity or even think about telling anyone my identity,I will hunt you down and sent you to a nightmare world from which there is no escape."**__Batman warned in a dangerous voice."__**Do we understand each other?"**_

_Wally nodded meekly "Of course I won't tell anyone…please don't kill me!"_

-End Flashback-

"_That man is scary." _Wally thought to himself.

Wally was just glad to be alive and to have gotten something out of the whole ordeal .He was also grateful that his guardians were more worried about his health and safety then angry at him. Wally was still amazed he only got a long lecture on how stupid it was of him to try and give himself superpowers and double chores for a month.

Although his uncle doing tests on him to investigate how his powers worked was punishment enough.

When he had explained that he was able to copy Robin's acrobatic movements perfectly without the least bit of training or rehearsal his uncle had entered full mad scientist mode. The man subjected him to every single medical test known to mankind. He had given Barry enough blood to feed a vampire with a tapeworm.

The tests revealed that the experiment altered Wally's brain chemistry and muscles. The first thing Barry uncovered from all the medical tests was that the alterations to Wally's brain chemistry gave him eidetic memory. He had the ability to recall images, emotions, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume.

The experiment also gave Wally what his uncle called "photographic reflexes" this ability enables him to watch another person's physical movements and duplicate them without practice, no matter how complex. Wally put this to the test by watching every single action and martial arts movie his family owned and found he could perform any action he had seen in the movie perfectly.

The only limitation seemed to be Wally's body. Wally went on his computer and watched a video clip of Superman lifting a car using super strength. He immediately ran to the driveway and tried to lift his uncles' car. The end results were less than satisfactory; all he accomplished was almost throwing out his back.

Wally concluded he was not capable of copying a physical feat if the effort to do so requires superhuman effort. While he can view Superman lifting a car, he can't because his body can't duplicate superhuman strength.

One negative side effect Wally got from the experiment was being constantly hungry. Barry explained that the brain used up more nutrients and calories than any other organ in the human body. He now needed to eat more food in order to support his minds mental activities since his brain was now working overtime recording facts and memorizing people's body movements.

Another negative side effect from the experiment was that Wally now found himself antsy and craving mental stimulation. This was apparently due to his brain processing information so quickly, it made Wally bored and he needed to be mentally stimulated constantly. Last night he spent three hours researching wasps since his brain needed to be active.

Boredom and hunger were the least of Wally's problems. He had one major problem that had consumed him for the last week. His uncle Barry wouldn't let him fight crime.

-Flashback-

"_Please let me be your sidekick." Wally begged. "I might not have super speed but I can still help you fight crime with fighting abilities." He demonstrated several fighting stances to reinforce his point._

"_Absolutely not you're only a kid and I won't put your life in danger." Barry said in a stern tone of voice._

"_But Robins been fighting crime with Batman since he was nine, and Gotham city is far more dangerous!" Wally protested._

"_Batman might be a fan of child endangerment but I'm not. I refuse to endanger your life on a daily basis. End of discussion."_

-End Flashback-

Wally was angry at his uncle. Robin was two years younger than him but was allowed to fight crime, and the boy didn't even have superpowers. He could copy the abilities of the world's best martial artists at his fingertips but wasn't even allowed out of the house after dark.

Wally sighed sadly to himself and turned his attention back to his teacher who was finishing up his lecture. He was popular with his teachers since he did well in all his classes. Although being the best at chemistry and other subjects didn't exactly make him very popular and he was often picked on for being a nerd. This meant he always ended up eating lunch alone and sitting alone in the front row closest to the teacher.

Mr. Brooks finished his lecture and turned his attention back to the class. Wally stood at attention and tried to look interested.

"Alright class let us review what we just learned. Who can tell me what war the manifest destiny was used to justify?" Mr. Brooks asked, he was met with complete silence. After thirty seconds of silence he turned to Kevin the class jock. Wally always hated Kevin; he was a blond idiot that was only popular because he was good at soccer and good looking. "Kevin! Do you know the answer?"

"Ummm the Vietnam War?" Kevin answered, although it was obvious he guessed.

A vein appeared on Mr. Brooks head, it was obvious the man was angry. "That came a little later Kevin, about a hundred years later. A lot of good men died in that conflict Kevin." He stated in a solemn voice "I believe we owe it to them to atleast** GET THE CENTURY RIGHT**!" He yelled, after several seconds he calmed down enough to talk in a neutral voice.

"Now either someone gives me the answer or I give all of you double homework and a quiz tomorrow." Mr. Brooks said with frustration evident in his voice. "I want a volunteer with the answer…**NOW**!"

After thirty seconds of no one raising their hand or showing any inclination to answer Wally let out a loud sigh and raised his hand.

"Wally stop showing off!"

Wally put his hand down immediately. He had a feeling Mr. Brooks wouldn't let him answer the question; it wasn't that he hated Wally it's just that Wally answered every single question the teacher had asked all day.

"Nobody knows the answer except Wally huh? Nobody can remember the answer even though I went over the subject matter for over an hour?" Once again he was met with complete silence.

"Why couldn't I have been born during an influenza epidemic or at the base of a volcano? Why did I have to grow up to be tall and strong? Only to squander all my potential by becoming a teacher! " He yelled angrily. He took several deep breaths trying to calm himself down.

"Alright" He breathed out finally calm enough to talk. "You will all have a special quiz on Monday. You will be tested on the copyright information in your textbook."He looked up at the clock and realized the bell was about to ring "Have a fun weekend you little ingrates."

RRRIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!

And with that ear piercing signal, the students stampeded out of the classroom trying to escape their teachers' psychotic meltdown. Wally joined them and walked down the hallway to his locker. He and spun his combination into his locker and put his heavy books away.

"I don't understand why I have to go to school at all; the Internet knows more than all the teachers put together." He said to himself, over the last few days he had read and memorized all his text books with his photographic memory. Making classes utterly pointless and boring since he knew all the material the teachers presented.

A loud noise drew his attention down the hallway he saw Kevin picking on a younger kid. Wally recognized the kid as Jason a small boy who was in the math club.

Kevin threw the Jason's bag onto the ground and began pushing him around. Wally looked around at the other people in the hallway and saw them either staring at the interaction or ignoring it.

"_How the hell can these people stick by and watch this happen. Doesn't anyone here have a conscience or the guts to help others?"_ Wally thought angrily. He had seen these types of scenarios take place a million times in the hallway and was getting sick of it.

Kevin caught Wally's angry stare and decided to confront him. "What the Hell are you looking at West?" he asked ignoring the boy he was just picking on and began to walk towards Wally.

Wally smirked and realized his time had come. _"Here goes, my first act of heroics is saving a kid from a bully, oh they shall write a ballad about this day for it is epic."_ Wally thought sarcastically to himself. He had hoped his first use of his powers would be to stop a robbery or a super villain.

"I thought I was looking at my mother's old douche bag but that's back in Nebraska." Wally said without even blinking. The second those words had left Wally's lips Kevin lunged at him.

Wally felt the world slow down as his brain processed the entire situation and formulated a plan. _"Dodge left, counter lunge with punch to diaphragm, before opponent can recover execute punch to nasal cavity."_ The second those thoughts went through his head his muscles instantly reacted.

He dodged the lunge, stepping aside deftly, and rammed his fist into Kevin's gut using the boys own momentum against him.

Kevin had the wind knocked out of him and Wally delivered another punch to the boys face before he could recover.

Before anyone could even process what happened Kevin was lying on the ground clutching his nose that was now bleeding profusely. Before Wally could celebrate one of Kevin's friends a boy by the name of Todd snuck up behind him and grabbed him in a bear hug. Wally's photographic reflexes reacted the only way it knew how to react to a bear hug. By making Wally lunge his left hand backwards in a chopping motion straight into the other boy's groin.

Todd screamed in pain and let Wally go. Todd fell backwards clutching his crotch in agony. Wally looked around himself to make sure no more of Kevin's friends were going to sneak up on him. When no other contender stepped forward he let out a deep breath that he wasn't aware he was holding.

Wally looked at his hands in amazement, a few weeks ago he would have gotten beat up in a matter of seconds.

"What the hell is going on over here?"

Everyone looked in the general direction the voice came from and saw Mr. Brooks standing in the hallway. He looked at Kevin lying on the ground clutching a bloody nose along with Todd clutching his groin, and Wally standing over both of them.

"All three of you in my office…**NOW**!"

OoOoO

_One hour later_

After the fight Kevin and Todd had been rushed to the nurse's office while Wally went to his teachers office to be punished. Wally was surprised that he only got a week's detention helping Mr. Brooks grade papers while Kevin and Todd got a month's detention scrubbing toilets.

Apparently all the students who had watched the interaction explained how it was Kevin who attacked first and that Wally was only defending Jason. Wally was still frounded for fighting but it could have been much worse.

Of course his uncle had his own opinion on the entire incident.

"Of all the stupid things you could have done you actually used your powers to beat up your fellow classmates?"

Wally blocked out the sound of his uncles tirade. He knew he did the right thing; Kevin deserved to be taken down a notch for always picking on the smaller students. "That jerk deserved it; he's been bullying everyone in school all year. Maybe now he will think twice before picking on someone."Wally protested. "Besides he attacked me first and my body just reacted. I can't even begin to explain what it felt like."

It was true Wally couldn't explain how he fought so well. The movements and fighting moves he did came to him as easily as breathing. Before Barry could respond to Wally's statement Iris walked into the room and tried to stop the argument before it got ugly.

"Now Barry he was only defending himself and his classmate…" Iris tried to reason.

"He can't just go around beating up people, even if they are doing bad things. You should let the teachers and proper authorities take action." Barry had entering full lecture mode.

"That is so not fair! You go around beating up bad guys with your bare fists all the time!" Wally protested, how could his uncle be such a hypocrite?

"That's different. I have a costume that grants me anonymity and I only help people who are in danger!" Barry said defending himself.

"The boy that was being picked on needed my help and no one else was going to help him."Wally responded, if he hadn't acted the Kevin might have hurt Jason badly.

Barry wanted to ram his head against a wall. He could already feel a headache building in his head.

"Wally why don't you go up to your room and relax? I need to talk with Barry privately." Iris said trying to diffuse the argument before it got worse.

Wally nodded and went up to his room happy to get away from his uncle. The second he was gone Iris turned to Barry. "We can't do this Barry, he needs guidance and training. Maybe you should consider letting him join you in fighting crime."

"How can you even suggest that? He's still so young, I don't want to throw him into the world of crime fighting unprepared…if anything happened to him I wouldn't be able to forgive myself…"

Iris let out a deep sigh. She didn't like the idea of letting Wally fight super villains and criminals but with all these recent events it seemed like it was his fate.

"You were complaining just last month that you wanted a sidekick since several of your colleagues have them." Iris stated recalling how Barry was jealous of Green arrow and Batman for having sidekicks. "Besides Robin is fighting alongside Batman and he's younger than Wally, and Green arrow has had Speedy fighting crime with him for years and he's not much older than Wally."

"I guess I could let him join me on patrol…" Barry suddenly smiled. "Actually I have another idea…a wonderful idea" The second those words left his lips he was gone in a flash leaving behind a very confused Iris.

"That man…I guess I'll start preparing dinner"

OoOoO

Wally walked into his room he set his bag by the door in its usual spot, then proceeded to flop with a complete lack of his usual grace on top of his bed he was exhausted after today's ordeals. After a minute of basking in silence his brain began to call out for stimulation, damn his superpowers for making him think so much. He decided to turn his attention to a brainless activity that would keep his mind entertained.

Wally grabbed his remote from under his bed and turned on the small television in his room and began to channel surf.

The news. A fire. Burnt down a small apartment complex. No injuries. _Click._

Anime. Naruto? It looked familiar. The blond haired boy was shouting at his dark haired friend to listen to reason. _Click._

A talk show. Something about cyber bullying. _Click._

An interview. Some politician talking a bunch of BS. _Click._

An action movie. Die Hard. Perfect.

Wally relaxed and gave the movie his undivided attention. He sat on his bed and watched the movie with rapt attention making sure he didn't miss a single second of any action scene. He began to wonder if his photo reflexive abilities allowed him to copy John McClane's gun toting abilities.

Wally made it through about half the movie when his viewing was interrupted by his aunt calling him for dinner. Wally walked out of his room and began his trek to the dining room. As he walked down the stairs he could smell his aunts delicious cooking and he felt his mouth water. He ran the rest of the way but the second he ran into the dining room he stopped dead in his tracks.

Sitting at the table was Bruce Wayne who was currently engaged in a conversation with his uncle. Wally's first instinct was to get as far away from Batman as possible but his plans of fleeing were ruined when his aunt noticed him standing in the doorway.

"Take a seat and say hello to our guest Wally." Iris said happily gesturing towards Bruce Wayne. Wally cursed his luck and took the only available seat at the table…right next to Bruce. The man was dressed impeccably and held himself with grace and sophistication that one would expect from a man of his station.

The man turned to him and held out his hand. "Good to see you again Mr. West I'm glad we can see each other under better circumstances." He said in a polite voice that made Wally feel uneasy since the owner of that voice was threatening him just a week ago.

Wally accepted Bruce's hand and immediately winced as he shook the man's hand. The man's grip was incredibly strong. It felt like he was shaking the hand of Superman if he took steroids on a regular basis.

"I'm glad to see you as well Mr. Wayne." Wally lied; If Bruce saw through Wally's lie the man certainly didn't show it.

Thankfully Wally was saved from conversation with the man by Iris serving dinner. His aunt served spaghetti and the food was enough to keep his hunger pangs away, but he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to the meal while Batman was sitting at the table.

Meanwhile his uncle and aunt were having a very easy time making casual conversation with Bruce. "So how are things in Gotham city Bruce?" Barry asked while taking a large bite of food.

"Things are going well, crime is down lately and I've been able to invest more time into running my company."

"I'm glad to see crime is down, for the first time in years Gotham is actually becoming a pleasant place to live. " Barry said casually taking another bite out of his food. "I remember ten years ago when you couldn't walk down the street without getting mugged."

"C'mon Barry it's not that bad, I was raised in Gotham and I turned out alright."

"Yeah it's not like you dress as a Bat or anything." Wally said offhandedly he immediately regretted those words. If looks could kill Wally would be dead a thousand times over from his uncles and aunts combined death glares.

"Wally that's rude." Iris said entering full disciplinary mother mode. "Apologize to Mr. Wayne."

Before Wally could apologize Bruce spoke up. "Don't worry about it Iris, I find his open honesty refreshing and…humorous." Bruce said although had to force himself to say the word humorous. "I was hoping to wait until the end of the meal to bring up business but I think we should tell Wally why I'm here."

Barry and Iris nodded their agreement while Wally looked confused. "What business are you talking about?" Wally asked confusion etched on his face.

Bruce turned to face Wally. "Your uncle tells me you want to become a crime fighter." Wally nodded , still unsure where this conversation was leading and what it had to do with him.

"Why do you want to fight crime?"

That made Wally pause for a second why did he want to fight crime? He remembered what had happened earlier today, Kevin bullying someone and no one willing to help. "I want to help people." Wally answered meeting the older man's eyes.

Bruce smiled at that answer. "Like you helped that boy at school today?" Wally's eyes widened how did he know about that? He realized his uncle or aunt must have told him about it.

"Everyone was just watching…I had to do something even if I ended up getting in trouble for it."

"You showed a willingness to risk your own safety in the service of good without expectation of reward and with the strong possibility of punishment." Bruce said looking approvingly at Wally. "Those are admirable qualities and they are a necessary first step."

"First step to what?" he asked confused by this entire conversation.

Barry decided to answer Wally's question. "I've been thinking this over for a long time and…I'm willing to let you become my sidekick." Wally's face lit up when those words left his uncles mouth but Barry wasn't finished. "On the condition that you train with Bruce for a year."

That statement made Wally pause, train with Bruce Wayne? He didn't know whether to be honored or terrified at the idea of training with Batman. He had seen Batman on the news and knew he was one of the best hand to hand fighters in the world, able to dispatch numerous criminals even ones with superpowers.

"Ummm that sounds great…" Wally began lamely. "But can't I just watch more movies it would be a huge waste of Bruce's time to train me when I could just buy more movies."

"I've read your uncles medical reports on your powers." Bruce turned towards Wally and fixed him with a serious gaze. "Your abilities are interesting and have great potential but it's also dangerous to take a shortcut when learning to fight."

"How is it dangerous?" Wally asked his curiosity piqued.

"Learning fighting moves from movies and instructional tapes might be useful if you're fighting some punk kid in school." Bruce said plainly, making Wally wonder just how much the man knew about his fight with Kevin."But in a real fight you need to understand the underlying disciplines of using martial arts. Your power to copy fighting styles is useful but dangerous; it's like learning to run before you can walk."

Wally hadn't thought of that before, he could easily mimic a cowboys lasso twirl…but that did not make him a cowboy. He could mimic the sky hook of a NBA player…but that did not make him a NBA basketball player. He could mimic a Kung fu master's battle stance…but that did not make him a kung fu master.

But a year of training under Batman's tutelage sounded like torture. Images of Batman beating him with a stick like a mad army drill sergeant entered his head and it scared Wally to death.

"I'm…honored that you're willing to train me. But aren't you usually busy saving the world?"

"It is true that my duties to the Justice League and Gotham do keep me busy." Bruce said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "But your powers should enable me to teach you quickly. What took me and Robin years to learn should come to you in a year or even months. Besides I'm doing this as a personal favor to your uncle since it's the only way he will allow you to become his sidekick."

That surprised statement surprised Wally. It was the only way he would be allowed to fight crime?

"I will only let you become my sidekick if you're prepared for what's out there. I won't send you out into the streets of Central city unless you're professionally trained." Barry chimed in, sensing his nephew's confusion. "Since I'm not the best person to teach you martial arts I asked Bruce if he would and he agreed."

Looks like he didn't have much of a choice. _"How bad could it be? Batman's powerful…I bet by the end of the training I'll be able to punch through brick walls."_ Wally thought happily to himself.

"Okay I'll do the training, heck I might just teach you a few trick before it's all over." Wally stated with a confident smirk.

"I'm glad to see you're enthusiastic but before I train you I must make one thing clear to you." Bruce said seriously his voice entering full Batman mode. "This training will be long and painful-a true torment. I will push your mind and body to their very limits…do you still want to be trained?"

As much as it scared Wally to hear that, he knew there was no going back…he had to do this. "Yes I do I don't care what it takes." He grabbed Bruce's hand and shook it.

Barry smiled approvingly, he could see Iris was nervous but it didn't matter. He knew Bruce wouldn't hurt his nephew…much.

Wally however felt a little uneasy as he shook Bruce's hand.

"_Why do I get the feeling I just sold my soul?"_

OoOoO

Authors note-Whew that was a tough chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, writing Batman is hard. Actually I take that back writing Batman is easy it's Bruce Wayne that's hard to write. Mixing sophistication and intimidation is hard so I hope it wasn't too weird to read.

I would like to thank all those who put this story on their alert and favorites list I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. Ill try to update soon but for now I'm going to go have some fun. Today's my birthday which means I'm going to…sit at home and play some video games alone…I need to get some friends.

Also I would also like to thank all my , Aidensurvival, Prettykitty374, Choclatpen, Blackirishawk, and JanelleL. You guys are great and gave me the courage I needed to continue the story.

Please read and review let me know what I need to improve, change or even drop a interesting Idea I'm a open minded kind of guy.


	3. The Power of Observation

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice.**

OoOoOo

Three days have passed since Wally was forced to have dinner with Bruce Wayne. Ever since that dinner he had been preparing himself for the worse.

Batman claimed his training would require complete dedication and effort, and Bruce had meant it. He was to report after school to train with him at the Batcave by teleporting over to Wayne manor. While Wally didn't like the idea of teleporting every single day it was the only way he could receive his training while attending school in Central city.

Today was his first day of training and he wanted to do well. He knew it would be hell but it would be worth it if he was allowed to fight crime alongside his uncle.

"Keep it together, no need to freak out. You're only going to be trained by one of the world's most accomplished martial artist and crime fighter…no pressure" Barry said clapping a hand on Wally's shoulder in a attempt to comfort him. Wally glared at his uncle; the man was no help and had spent the last few days trying to prepare Wally for anything Batman might throw at him.

The two of them were currently standing inside his uncles tool shed, or rather the teleporter Barry had disguised as a tool shed. Barry activated the machine and pushed Wally towards it so that he was standing directly in front of the Zeta beam teleporter. It looked like a giant gateway and Wally was naturally afraid of it.

"Alright well I guess I'll see you in a couple of hours, have fun and tell Bruce I said hello."

"So how does this teleportation thing even work? Do I just step through it like a doorway or do I have to say a password?" Wally asked curiously, his uncle's response was to unceremoniously push him through the portal.

The very next second Wally found himself lying on cold ground in a dark cave. He picked himself up and began dusting himself off and making sure he had all his limbs. The idea of teleporting still unnerved him; he didn't want to come out of the portal with his arm missing.

After assuring himself that he did indeed still have all his body parts he turned to walk into the cave only to find Batman standing right in front of him in full costume.

Batman didn't say anything and instead simply gestured for Wally to follow him into the cave.

"Glad you decided to show up; if you'll follow we will begin your training."

Wally was annoyed but decided to trudge after the man. Any fear of Batman's training was being replaced with mild annoyance. Did the man have to be so serious all the time?

"Ah yes every kid remembers the day an adult who isn't their parent takes them into a dark cave. Some even remember it without the need of therapy."Wally said trying to lighten the mood. Batman simply ignored Wally and continued to walk deeper into the bat cave.

"_Does he take himself so seriously he never laughs? "_Wally thought to himself as he watched Batman walk through the cave. The man needed to relax and laugh a little, conversation with Batman was always awkward, and it was akin to talking to a very unfunny wall. The man was a stoic statue of anti-joy who sapped the fun out of everything around him.

That very second an idea popped into Wally's head. He would get Batman to laugh. How hard could it be? Every single person had something they would laugh at, even the Dark Knight.

"_Get Batman to laugh? Challenge accepted."_

Wally shook those thoughts from his head and followed Batman until he arrived in a large exercise room. The room was littered with exercise equipment of numerous functions and design. There was even a bicycle in a giant fish tank….wait what? He did a double take and sure enough batman had an exercise bike underwater, the man was intense.

But all the intense equipment didn't intimidate Wally. Barry told him that most of Batman's strength came from intimidation. As long as he didn't let the man get into his head he would be okay.

"So what will I be doing? I'm totally ready to get this thing started. "

"Your enthusiasm will serve you well, I hope it holds up through your exercise today. "

Wally had to raise an eyebrow at that statement. "Bring it on. I can take anything you can throw at me."

Batman turned around and Wally could see he was smirking; something about Batman smirking was scary. Wally immediately regretted his previous statement.

"Very well Wally let's begin with a light exercise."

OoOoOo

_Fifty eight minutes later_

"I'm…going…to…die." Wally gasped out in between deep breaths. He was currently running on a treadmill going at max speed. Sweat soaked every inch of Wally's body as he hopelessly tried to keep up with the treadmills pace but after almost an hour of intense running his body was about to give up.

It wasn't helped by the fact that Bruce had made him wear a weight vest. The vest itself wasn't too heavy but after nearly an hour of running it felt as heavy as having a boulder strapped to your back.

"What happened to your confidence? Didn't you say that you could take exercise I could throw at you?" Bruce asked, he had changed out of his Batman costume and was now in a training outfit to allow easier movement. He was standing next to Wally's treadmill observing him run and making sure he kept up with the treadmills speed.

"I…can…take anything…you…throw…at…me…you…deranged…lunatic!" Wally screamed he was running on pure adrenaline. He was too angry to be tired, he would not let Bruce win, he couldn't let that cocky billionaire win, and he would beat this stupid training.

"And….time!" Bruce exclaimed, he turned off the treadmill and it slowed down. The second it stopped moving Wally walked off of it and collapsed on the ground his muscles completely giving up on him. Bruce helped Wally up and sat him down on a nearby bench.

"Breathe deeply and relax your muscles." Bruce instructed handing him a bottle of water. Wally snatched the bottle from Bruce's hand and began to guzzle it down.

"That was a good warm up Wally are you ready to start your main exercise?" Bruce asked while handing Wally another bottle of water after the boy had drained the first one.

Wally wanted to lie down and die, but he wouldn't give up. He promised he would see this training through.

"_Even if it kills me…I have to do this."_

OoOoOo

_Two hours later_

Wally collapsed into his bed the second he got home. He was bruised tired, and his muscles felt like they were going to explode. Wally remembered Bruce's words the night he offered to train him.

_"This training will be long and painful-a true torment. I will push your mind and body to their very limits…do you still want to be trained?"_

He had meant those words; there were several times Wally did want to die. He did pushups, sit ups, pull ups, and numerous other exercises that pushed him to his limit. Luckily Bruce gave Wally some time to rest so that his muscles could heal. He claimed after a few days of rest Wally's muscles would heal and become stronger.

The only good thing about this was that Wally didn't have to do another training session with Bruce for three days. He was going to enjoy every second of relaxation he could get. Wally took a deep breath and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

OoOoOo

_Four months later_

Wally spent months maintaining Bruce's insane training regimen. There were more than a few times when Wally wanted to quit and go back to a normal life but he showed extreme resolve and overcame any challenge Bruce threw in his way.

There were times Wally really wanted to give up. But it simply made Wally push himself harder and throw himself into his training.

One downside of the constant training was that it left little time for recreational activities and school. The only reason Wally was getting perfect grades in school was due to his photographic memory allowing him to remember every fact he learned while in class.

During his months of training Wally had been watching training videos and action movies whenever he had the chance. He soon found himself in command of a vast array of fighting abilities. He wasn't strong enough to use the fighting moves effectively but Bruce deemed ready to start real combat training thanks to his ability to learn at such a rapid pace.

It pleased Wally to know that his "powers" weren't a total waste. Over the last few months he had felt truly cheated that he didn't receive super speed from his experiment but now he was looking on the bonuses his powers gave him. Information and complex ideas could be learned instantaneously and with training he could master anything.

So now he found himself sparring with Dick during training sessions. He found the fights extremely frustrating since he was effectively getting his ass handed to him by a ten year old kid. Wally's photographic reflexes gave him fighting abilities and his increased brain function allowed him to process scenarios and events quicker but it didn't matter when he fought against someone who has experience fighting Gotham's worse criminals.

By the end of each session Wally was bruised, tired, and hungry. Despite his 'handicap' of being younger and less muscular Richard was still a formidable opponent. He proved this by beating Wally senseless every time they sparred. The boy simply dodged everything he threw at him, using his small size and gymnastics to his advantage. Possibly the most irritating thing about this experience was that happy smile he wore the whole time. Not to mention the boys endless taunts.

However with each defeat Wally would pick himself back up and try again. His eyes would copy Dick's moves and it wasn't long until his brain could predict the boy's movements before he executed them. Soon Wally began beating the boy wonder in fights by predicting his moves and using his own fighting abilities against him.

This led to Wally winning as many matches as he lost, much to the irritation of a certain boy wonder. During these sessions Wally also discovered his most powerful weapon in his fighting arsenal.

His mouth.

Thanks to his powers his brain could multitask easily, this made it easy for him to talk while fighting. Add the fact that his brain was always full of random thoughts begging to be voiced made him a nonsense spouting machine. This had the effect of distracting his opponent letting Wally attack them when they left an opening in their defenses.

Wally was currently sparring with Robin aka Dick "Richard" Grayson and he was currently using his "weapon."

"After watching the Smurfs I have to wonder how the heck they maintain a large viable population." Wally said while dodging punches his opponent was throwing at him. The Boy Wonder was doing his best to block Wally's talking out and ignore it but that was proving difficult since the guy never shut up.

"At first I thought Smurfs might lay eggs since Smurfette is the only female in a large population of males but then I realized that the Smurfs show characteristics of mammals so that wouldn't be possible." Wally dodged another punch and delivered an uppercut to Robin causing the boy to stumble while clutching his jaw in pain. Richard quickly recovered but it was obvious the boy was having trouble focusing on the fight.

Wally smiled slightly at the other boy's flustered look. Richard was getting angry and his movements were getting predictable and sloppy. Meanwhile Wally was enjoying himself, ever since he got his powers his brain was working at an accelerated pace and he found his mind plagued with random thoughts. He thought it was nice to be able to voice them.

"But then I actually went back and watched the earliest episodes of the Smurfs and found that the Smurfette was created by Gargamel using magic, and the rest of the Smurfs were created by papa Smurfs magic. So the better question is where did Papa Smurf come from?" Wally blocked one of Richards' attacks and quickly tried to kick the boy in his side. Robin saw this and grabbed Wally's foot, using his grip on Wally's leg he used all of his strength to throw the older boy across the room.

Wally felt a small amount of pain shoot through his arm when he hit the ground but he quickly recovered and got back into the fight. "So if the Smurfs were created using magic their species probably doesn't have reproductive organs, thus making gender irrelevant."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Robin asked as he attacked Wally with a series of punches and kicks. That Wally easily blocked.

"Well I never stop when I'm awake, and I've been told that I talk while I sleep so…no I guess I never do stop talking." Wally responded in a bored tone. The fight had gone on long enough; he was going to finish it.

"Did you know that the Smurfs predated the original 'night of the living dead" with the concept of zombies? There was an entire Zombie episode of the Smurfs where a virus turned Smurfs purple and the infected purple Smurfs spread the virus by biting other Smurfs."

Richard did his best to block out Wally's voice and focus on the fight. When he felt confident in his own concentration he lunged at Wally with the intention of tackling him. Wally responded by sidestepping him and delivering a swift punch to Richards stomach effectively knocking the air out of him. Before he had a chance to recover Wally pinned the boy to the floor and held him in place.

"Say it."

Richard struggled for several seconds but it was obvious he was beaten.

"Uncle." He said softly, he hated losing.

With that said Wally let the boy go and they both got up off the ground and took a break. The fight lasted longer than expected and they both needed time to recover their stamina.

Before they could fully catch their breath Bruce walked over to them. He had been watching the entire exchange from the other end of the room. "Impressive displays, both of you are learning a good deal from sparring with each other."

Richard let out a deep sigh. "The only thing getting out of these spars is a deep desire to cut my own ears off."

"Wally isn't the only person who will attempt to distract you in a fight by using words. The Joker also uses jokes and sick humor to distract his opponents during fights." Bruce responded in a serious tone.

The younger boy nodded. He had been in enough fights to know how distracting the Jokers humor and incessant laughing was. Next to that Wally's endless talking didn't seem so bad by comparison.

After lecturing Richard, Bruce focused his attention on Wally; the redhead was currently cleaning himself up after the long fight with the other boy. Wally noticed Bruce staring at him and gave the man his undivided attention.

"So what's next Bruce? More exercises?"

Bruce pondered that idea for a second but quickly dismissed the idea. The boy was strong enough to advance his training. "Not today, maintain your current schedule and report back here in two days. We are going to move your training to the next level."

Wally nodded eagerly and went home to prepare himself for what Batman might have in store for him.

OoOoOo

_Two days later_

Over the last two days Wally had been mentally preparing himself for Batman's next level of training. He entered the Bat cave and found Bruce in the training room. What shocked Wally was how different the room was compared to its normal setup. Usually it was filled with exercise equipment but today it was cleared out, and decorated like a martial arts dojo.

Bruce was sitting cross-legged on the ground in the middle of the room. He gestured for Wally to sit down on the ground across from him. Wally did so and crossed his legs to Mirror Bruce's sitting position; they were silent for several minutes until Bruce finally spoke.

"You've come a long way since I first met you. You've managed to pass every trial and training exercise put before you." He said in a soft but serious voice. "The training you have faced has been difficult but now we begin to teach you how to fight."

Wally shook his head at that statement. "I know how to fight; it's what I've been doing all this time."

Bruce shook his head at the boy's statement. "You know how to fight with someone head on in a controlled environment. Out in the world you have to consider stealth, terrain, and numerous other factors that determine the outcome of a battle."

Wally nodded his head in affirmation. He knew that Bruce was right, the man always ended up being right. It was just one of the many things Wally learned about that man.

"I'm glad you understand. Now the…let's begin." Bruce said gesturing Wally to follow him to the side of the room. He brought the boy over to a long table ridden with numerous tools, devices, and odd objects.

"With all the skills and abilities you've learned you could easily fight six men twice your age." Bruce stated plainly while running tinkering with several objects on the table. "But I can teach you to fight six hundred."

That statement caused Wally to cease all mental functions. Fighting six hundred people seemed impossible, heck even the six people would give him a run for his money.

Ignoring the boys disbelieving look Bruce continued with the lecture uninterrupted. "I can teach you to disappear and become truly invisible."

"So do you have cloaking technology? Because that would be awesome beyond belief." Wally said in a excited voice. With all the technology the man had at his disposal a simple cloaking device didn't sound too farfetched.

"Richard and I use ninjutsu; we follow the way of the ninja. It's how we are able to sneak up on you all the time. It is how we manage to fight on equal ground with some of the world's most powerful criminals and madmen. A cloaking device is irrelevant when compared to true stealth."

That got Wally's attention. He always called Bruce and Dick "ninjas" since they always managed to surprise him. He didn't think they had actually trained to become ninjas. The very idea of training in the ways of a ninja was…exciting.

Seeing the younger boy's enthusiasm Bruce went on with the lesson. "A ninja understands that the secret to invisibility is a matter of patience and agility. You must also learn to master numerous tools of the trade." Bruce grabbed a small bit of black powder from a small jar on the table.

"The most basic tool I can introduce you to is the explosive powders used in ninjutsu." He threw the powder on the floor and it exploded with a loud pop and left a small smokescreen that covered the area. Wally had to cover his nose and mouth to stop himself from coughing.

"So the powder is used as a weapon?" Wally asked after the smoke had receded enough for him to talk without coughing.

"Or distractions. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent." Bruce stated while handing a bit of powder to Wally. The young boy grabbed a small amount for himself and threw it on the ground. He watched the results with great interest, the tactical uses of such a simple yet effective tool was limitless.

"I see the usefulness, but why so much focus on theatricality?" Wall asked his curiosity piqued from the conversation.

That question caused Bruce to pause for a second; his eyes were unfocused as if he were thinking deeply. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence he finally answered. "It's the most important tool used by a hero."

The older man leaned against a nearby wall in an attempt to make himself more comfortable. "I remember the first night I tried fighting crime, back when I was unsure of how to approach being a vigilante."

That caught Wally's attention, Batman's entry into crime fighting. He wished he had time to get popcorn and a soda for this story.

"The first time I went out into the streets I was clad in a jacket, and a ski mask…looking back on it now I looked more like a criminal then a vigilante." Bruce said in an almost humorous tone, he couldn't believe how unprepared he was back then. "I tried to stop a group of criminals robbing a store. I leapt out and told them to surrender. Can you guess what they did when they saw me?"

Wally shook his head.

"They laughed. They laughed at me; after they got over the humor of the situation they attacked me relentlessly. They were no match for me but they still managed to injure me several times before I managed to knock them out." Bruce rubbed the left side of his chest as if he were remembering an old injury. "It was at that moment I realized what I lacked."

"And what did you lack?" Wally asked, all his attention focused on the story.

"Intimidation, they didn't fear me. Fear is the key for any hero to win a fight. When your opponent fears you even in a small capacity, you have the advantage."

Wally scratched his head at that statement. Fear was the key to being a hero? That didn't sound like anything he had ever heard of before. His Uncle Barry was a hero and he was certain no one in Central City "feared" him. Everyone Loved the Flash, heck they had a museum dedicated to the guy.

"My uncle doesn't use fear, heck I don't think any hero I know of uses fear as a weapon except you." Wally said voicing his thoughts.

"Criminals fear your uncle because he has powers. When they see him run up in that clown suit he calls a costume they know that they are dealing with a super powered being. Same can be said for numerous heroes like Superman, Green lantern, and Wonder woman. They all have powers that make criminals fear them by default. People like me who have no powers are at a disadvantage, so I have strike fear into the hearts of criminals through intimidation and theatricality."

Wally nodded thoughtfully; he couldn't deny that his uncle's powers were scary, especially if you were on the receiving end of them.

"That's why you have to learn how to scare your enemy before the fight starts. You must have fear, surprise, and intimidation on your side. You must break them before you engage them, only then is victory assured."

"I have powers, doesn't that count for something?" Wally asked confusion etched on his face.

"Your powers are impressive, you have managed to learn in a few months what took m years to master. With your photo graphic memory and reflexes you have the potential to master every form of combat imaginable. But the truth is that your body still has the strength of a normal human, along with all the weaknesses."

That sank Wally's spirits a bit, and it showed on his face. However he felt a comforting hand land on his shoulder and looked up to see Bruce fix him with one of his patented serious stares.

"Don't doubt yourself; the progress you've made so far has exceeded my original expectations. Now are you ready to start ninjutus training?"

Wally smiled happily, ready to take on the challenge.

OoOoOo

_2 months later_

It took a month in a half for Wally to learn ninjustu and how to use stealth and deception like Batman and Robin were able to do. He was able to learn the skills fine but the art of ninjutsu required patience, something that was difficult for Wally since his powers couldn't copy patience.

However despite all this Wally still managed to finish the training with flying colors and was now experiencing one of the final phases of his training with Bruce. Wally was now in combat and weapons training.

He was currently engaged in a sword fight with Bruce, who was giving him instructions as the fight progressed. Wally was swinging a katana with all his strength and agility while Bruce blocked and gave instructions.

"Stop using standard attacks, use the unorthodox." Bruce instructed while easily blocking several of Wally's sword strikes.

Wally listened to the man's advice and began using different tactics. He attempted to stab Bruce in hopes of putting the man on the defensive but Bruce simply dodged the attacks no matter what they were.

This pattern continued for some time, Wally attempted changing sword hands and swapping between different sword styles such as Battōjutsu in an attempt to surprise the man but no matter what he did Bruce simply blocked or dodged.

It wasn't long until Wally became frustrated and it showed in his swordsmanship. He was used to dueling Richard, who was easy to beat since he could distract him with talking. Unfortunately Bruce was immune to distractions during a fight, an ability that was mostly attributed to fighting the Joker. This left Wally at a sizeable disadvantage and it was showing.

Seeing the Wally's frustration Bruce decided to chime in with more advice. "Control my central line, keep me dodging." He instructed again hoping the boy would heed his advice.

Wally didn't waste a second and delivered a harsh strike right in the center of Bruce's defenses, forcing the man to dodge out of the way. "Very good, but you have to be faster if you want to destroy my focus."

The fight continued like this with Wally improving every step of the way with Bruce chiming in to give advice.

"Your holding the sword too tightly, you won't be able to maneuver it in your hand properly. " Bruce instructed as Wally lashed out, Bruce swung his blade at Wally, forcing the boy to block. Bruce's attack was strong and managed to disarm Wally. "Now you're holding it too lightly, see how easy it was for me to disarm you?"

Wally nodded sadly, he was tired. No matter how much training he did it was never enough to defeat his teacher. Even with his powers it simply wasn't enough, he could predict the man's movements and use his own fighting styles against him but it simply wasn't enough.

"You're doing well; I have little left to teach you."

Wally looked up at Bruce with utter shock. His training so far had only lasted a little over six months. Was he backing out of training early?

Before Wally could voice any of his concerns Bruce stopped him. "I'm not saying your training is done, I'm just saying there is little for me to teach you. You've learned and copied every fighting style that I know with your powers, and you've done it in half the time I thought it would."

Bruce led Wally into the Batcave and he continued his speech. "All that's left is for you to practice what you know and develop your own fighting style, something that my presence will hinder."

"But I can't even beat you in a fight, heck I can't even beat you at Chess, there's no way you've taught me everything you know." Wally chimed in, unable to believe that he had learned everything.

"I've taught you everything I intended to, there still much for you to learn. Besides the only thing keeping you from besting me in combat is experience and your young body, you will gain the necessary skills with time and patience." Bruce began explaining. "Before I tell Barry you're ready for fighting crime, you still need to develop your own fighting style and costume."

That made Wally pause; he didn't even know what fighting style he was going to use. He had memorized so many that choosing a single one was going be hard, the costume he had already thought of. "Actually I had a costume idea." Wally said while handing Bruce a piece of paper he pulled out of his pocket.

Bruce looked at the paper with a raised eyebrow before putting it into his own pocket. "I'll take the costume idea under consideration but it looks like you've been watching too many movies and reading too many comic books."

They continued to walk through the cave until they came to Bruce's computer area. Bruce went over to the Bat computer and pulled out a small disk from one of its drives and handed it to the boy. "I have this for you; it should help you in developing a fighting style."

Wally accepted the disk and looked at it curiously unsure of what was on it. Seeing his confusion Bruce decided to clarify thing. "That contains footage of every single hero and villain in the world. Their fighting style, abilities, and useful information on them, it's up to you to learn from them. Also studying future opponents will give you an edge should you ever face them in combat."

That got Wally excited, the idea of copying the fighting styles of the Justice league and the worlds villains made Wally want to dance. But right now there was one question he needed to ask. "So how much longer until I can go out on patrol with my uncle?"

"Six months, I said you would have to train for a year and I meant it."

Wally's jaw practically dropped to the floor after hearing that statement. "But you said I learned all of your abilities ahead of schedule!"

"Then consider the additional six months a bonus. Besides there's still a few things I need time to figure out in regards to how you're going to even be able to keep up with your uncle."

Wally almost threw a temper tantrum, but he knew the man was right. He needed to let his body develop more muscle and height. He looked at the disk that was now in his hand, the collected fighting abilities of the world's greatest fighters. It would take up some of his time but he would breeze through this as well.

"What else do you want me to do? I'm pretty sure this whole fighting style thing will only take a few months."

Bruce shrugged and began to walk out of the cave."Read up on criminology and maybe learn a few new languages, those things shouldn't be too hard for you to do with your powers. Remember there's a lot more to crime fighting than just physical abilities.

Wally watched the man leave, and nodded to himself. He would learn everything he could. And when six months had passed he would prove that he was ready.

OoOoOo

**Authors Note**

Probably my worst chapter, as I said I'm new to writing and I'm trying to iron out the kinks. Theses also the fact that I'm terrible at editing my own work, still looking for help with that.

Also I'm sorry for taking so long to update, Life, school, and mass effect 3 have kept me busy

I would also like to thank all the people who have read and reviewed my work so far, I'm surprised at how much you're enjoying it.

Special thanks to all my reviewers –silverangel83, Dextra2 ,Fallen Hikari,Sunbunnyluvsu77 ,chipmunkswillrule,Johnnythebass,cary99,blackirishawk,Jedipadawan-14,thesilentboom, Angel of mysteries, JanelleL, Choclatpen, Aidensurvival, blackpantherwolf.

I hope I spelled all your names right. If not, well that's too bad. Not my fault your names are hard toto write out. Still thanks for all your support.

To everyone else please leave a review. I'll even accept a "Cool story bro". Your reviews force me to continue writing. If you have any ideas or advice feel free to message me, I'm always looking for input.


	4. Small Stature Smash

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice.**

OoOoOo

Three months had passed since Wally's training with Bruce "ended". Wally felt confident he could develop his own fighting style by using the videos Bruce gave him and his own personal experience from all the training. At first he thought it would be easy to create a fighting style by merging all the ones he had learned since his training with Batman.

Unfortunately the plan wasn't going as smoothly as he would have liked. Finding fighting styles that complimented each other was difficult enough on its own. But trying to combine them seemed an impossible task. Even when one of Wally's ideas seemed to work he would find a flaw or opening in his movements that would end leaving him vulnerable in a real fight.

Another additional problem was Bruce was refusing to help. He claimed that it was his "Final test" to make a useable fighting style. Luckily the man still allowed Wally full access to the Batcave and training areas. The only reason Wally was making any progress at all was because of Richards help. The younger boy was willing to spar with Wally and point out any problems or opening that Wally's fighting styles showed.

Since training with Bruce he now knew one hundred and twenty seven forms of martial arts, it was just difficult narrowing down the ones that could work well together.

The best form of combat Wally had managed to put together thus far was a mixture of Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Muay Thai, Karate, Boxing, Jujitsu, and Ninjitsu. The combination went together smoothly and left no openings in his defenses. It was working so well that he was beating Dick in almost every single fight they had, all that was left to do was refine it and cover up a few weak spots.

However the main challenge was implementing weapons into his fighting style. Luckily Batman had many gadgets available for him to tinker around with, leaving Wally with many options.

Wally managed to narrow down his weapon choices by copying the weapon abilities and fighting styles from heroes and villains who were already using weapons effectively in combat.

The first thing he needed was a primary weapon that could be used in combat situations where his fists weren't enough. It had to be something strong and nonlethal. He thought he would use eskrima sticks or some other blunt weapon but he found their defensive capabilities lacking. After reviewing more tapes and footage of several heroes Wally found the answer in Wonder woman's fighting style.

At first the heroine didn't seem to have much to offer Wally in terms of fighting abilities. She used basic Greek wrestling to beat her opponents and had powers derived from the Greek pantheon, making most of her abilities impossible for Wally to copy. But after doing some research he found footage of her using weapons in several fights and found the shield she used particularly interesting.

The shield was a hoplite shield that was perfectly round. He saw how good it was at deflecting blows and even stopping bullets. But what Wally found interesting was its offensive capabilities; the shield was good for bashing opponents and had numerous offensive capabilities.

Wally thought it would be hard to acquire a shield to train with, but as luck would have it Bruce kept a hoplite shield in the armory as a trophy from a mission to Themyscira. After a good amount of begging Bruce finally allowed Wally to borrow the shield with the promise that he wouldn't damage it.

Using his new shield Wally explored various fighting styles that focused on shield combat. His main sources of information came from Greek, Roman, and Viking forms of shield combat. Within a few weeks Wally was able to use the shield as an offensive and defensive weapon.

Wally decided to add a secondary weapon to his arsenal so that he could be prepared if he ever lost his shield in combat. His second choice of weapon was an easy one since very few weapons complimented a shield better then a sword. Wally decided to use a katana since he had experience with the weapon and it could be used effectively with one or both hands.

Now all Wally needed was a person to copy swordsmanship from. The solution came in the form of Slade Wilson, better known as "Deathstroke the terminator" The man was renowned as one of the world's deadliest mercenaries capable of taking on super powered heroes by using a combination of clever tactics and advanced weapons. He watched as much footage of the man that was available and copied Slades swordsmanship abilities and numerous other tactics the man uses.

With his weapons and tactics chosen there was little left for Wally to do except continue working out the kinks in his fighting style and train his mind.

In order to prepare his mind for crime fighting he learned everything he could about that related to fighting crime. He mostly read detective guides, forensic information, criminal psychology, and got familiar with how law enforcement worked. He also took it upon himself to learn different languages by reading language books, self-help guides, and watching educational videos.

Over the course of this training Wally became close friends with Dick Grayson. Back when he first started training they were friendly rivals, but now they were almost inseparable. Wally found himself spending most of his free time hanging out or doing various recreational activities with Dick. He had never had a friend before, and his training left him with very little time to socialize with his peers at school.

Wally now found himself taking a walk though Gotham city with the Boy Wonder himself as a tour guide. Both boys had finished their training and Wally just wanted to relax and enjoy the various sights and fun activities Gotham city had to offer. The only challenge was picking what they would do for the day, Gotham was one of the biggest cities in the world and the list of activities was nearly endless. They finally settled for seeing a movie.

After about thirty minutes of walking and taking buses they finally arrived at the theater. Wally was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the theater; it was easily bigger than any movie theater in Central city. He looked at all the advertisement posters on the building and began browsing the movies that were playing. "I vote we go see a fighting movie, something with a lot of action and martial arts."

"Dude do you ever take a break from watching martial arts movies? It's all we watch when we hang out at the manor, and you always watch them when you're training. I swear if I have to watch another Bruce lee movie I'm going to kill myself." Dick responded, he loved fighting movies as much as the next guy but ever since Wally began hanging out with him it's all they ever watched.

"That is Blasphemy! How can you say no to a good fighting movie? Is it because you're afraid I'll learn a new fighting style and whoop your ass all over the training room again?" Wally asked in a teasing tone.

"You don't beat me all the time, besides your powers aren't that impressive. All you do is copy people, congratulations you have all the powers of Kirby."

That statement made Wally go on the defensive. "Alright first off Kirby copies peoples powers by eating them, I copy people by watching them which is easier. Second, what is your problem with Kirby? Kirby's awesome; heck I wish I could swallow someone and take their superpowers. I could just eat both Batman and Superman. That alone would give me the ability to fly and throw batarangs at the same time."

Dick couldn't help but laugh a little at Wally's response. His favorite thing about hanging out with Wally was that the guy was never boring; he always had a witty comeback or something interesting to say. It was also nice having a friend who wasn't a rich snob. Ever since living with Bruce he has been part of Gotham's "High Society" going to fancy banquets and fundraisers, and even his school was prestigious and snobby. It was nice having a friend who wasn't an entitled rich kid who wanted to brag about material processions.

That didn't mean he was going to let Wally win the argument.

"Your right about Kirby being awesome, heck he could probably beat the crap out of you…is Kirby a guy or a girl?" Richard asked, it was something he had never thought of before and now it was bothering him. Wally laughed at Dick's confusion and answered.

"Well in the original games it's never stated what Kirby's gender is. Although he is called a "little boy" in the manual for the English version of the original game, and is referred to as a "he" in the anime."

Dick couldn't hold back a sigh; one downside to having a friend who was a walking encyclopedia was that he could be a know-it-all. "What other information are you holding in that head of yours Wally? Man's inhumanity to man, cure to all decease, the secret to world peace?"

"Well I read the entire English dictionary last night and noticed some interesting things. The longest word in the English language is , and did you know that no words in the English language rhyme with month, orange, silver or purple?"

"As stimulating as this conversation is can we just pick a movie? I swear every conversation with you goes way off topic." Richard responded, intent on moving on with their planned activities.

"Fine lets compromise, let's go see a comedy or a horror movie." Wally said, while checking out the rest of the movies the theater was advertising.

They finally settled for seeing a comedy and bought their tickets and snacks. After finding their seats and settling in for the opening previews Richards phone vibrated and he looked at the text he had just received. He shook he head angrily and leaned over to Wally. _"Psst dude I've got to go. Bruce is calling me, we have to go out on patrol, something big is happening." _He whispered into the other boys' ear trying to attract as little attention as possible in the crowded theater.

Wally was less subtle. "What? This is our first real break from training and you promised to show me Gotham's nightlife. Besides its only five o clock, you usually don't go out with Bruce until midnight OW!" Wally shouted and rubbed the shoulder that Dick had just punched. "What the hell was that for?"

"That's for drawing the attention of the entire theater you idiot." Dick hissed angrily at his red headed friend. The older boy looked around and many people in the theater were staring at them.

"I don't care; we were supposed to hang out today."

"Look Wally I'm sorry but I have to go, here take this money and have fun, we can do something tomorrow." Dick handed Wally some money and grabbed his stuff so that he could go meet with Bruce back at the Batcave.

Wally looked at the money and tried to hand it back to Dick. "Look dude it's not about the money I just want to hang out, maybe you should tell Bruce I'm ready to start 'working'." Wally said while making air quotes with his hands.

"Just take the money and have some fun for the both of us, I got to run I'm already going to be late." With that said Dick ran out of the theater leaving Wally behind. Wally stood in the theater and felt annoyed, he was angry that his day of hanging out with his friend was cut short and that he wasn't able to go on a mission with Batman and Robin.

The hardest part of his training with Batman was watching him leave for a mission or patrol and not being able to help even though he was ready to fight.

Looking around the theater he realized he had just drawn a ton of attention. Wally walked out of the theater and into the streets of Gotham. He didn't feel like watching a movie anymore.

He walked around aimlessly around the city for about an hour, stopping by a few hotdog stands to get a snack. He tried to text Dick a few times hoping that they younger boy might finish his mission with Batman early, but he never responded to his texts.

With a depressed sigh Wally opened up his phone and called for a ride back to Wayne Manor.

"Hello Alfred? I was wondering if you could pick me up…yeah he went off to fight crime again."

OoOoOo

_One hour later_

"While I am disappointed that your day of fun with Master Richard was cut short, I must admit I am grateful for the company you're providing me Master West." Alfred said while pouring himself a cup of tea. Both he and Wally were sitting down in the Wayne manor dining room enjoying some tea and sandwiches.

That meant Alfred was enjoying tea while Wally ate as many sandwiches as his body could hold. Luckily Alfred had become used to the young man's appetite and had prepared a large amount of food for him. Wally looked up at the older man who was sipping on some tea and relaxing in his chair.

"I really appreciate you coming to pick me up like that Alfred, I'm not very good at navigating Gotham yet, also the tea and sandwiches are really good." Wally said while stuffing more food into his mouth.

The older man simply smiled at Wally gratefully. "There's no need to thank me Master West, you are a guest in this house and I will serve you in every capacity that I am able to. Besides it's nice to be able to have tea with company, Master Bruce and Master Richard are usually too busy to sit back and enjoy something like this."

Wally laughed a little at that statement. "Yeah I can't see Richard or Bruce being the type to sit down and have tea. In fact I've never even seen Bruce eat…ever."

"Since the age of fifteen Master Bruce has created a strict diet to enable his body to develop and operate at its most proficient. The only things I cook for him are health foods, protein shakes, and keeping fresh fruits available to him at all times. If it wasn't for you and Master Richard I would probably never have the opportunity to cook anything interesting." Alfred said matter-of-factly, while sipping some of his tea.

Wally sat back and drank some of his tea trying to process all that information. He was willing to do a lot to be able to fight crime but giving up delicious food? That seemed like a huge sacrifice, to never again eat pizza, hamburgers, or any other delicious foods. Wally was so caught up in his thoughts he almost missed Alfred's question.

"Tell me Master West would you like to join me for some sport?"

That caused Wally to pause. He never thought of Alfred as a sporty person. "What type of sport do you have in mind? I don't play Cricket, Polo, or Quidditch"

"I assure you Master West not every Englishman plays those sports, and I've never even heard of Quidditch. I just had an idea for an activity we could compete in while we wait for Master Bruce and Dick to return from their vigilante activities. Of course if you're afraid of losing I could understand why you wouldn't wish to compete." Alfred responded in a cocky tone.

Wally got excited after hearing the word "compete". He could never say no to a challenge.

"Don't sound so confident old man, I never lose."

OoOoOo

_Two hours later_

Several gunshots rang out loudly along with the impact of them hitting a target.

"Ha! And once again we are tied!" Wally proclaimed happily as he reloaded the pistol in his hand. He was currently standing in a gun range that the bat cave had. It was obvious the range was intended for testing batarangs. But it also working equally well as a shooting range.

"Master West all your doing is copying my shots using your powers. I must says its rather unsportsmanlike of you." Alfred responded in a tired voice. He had spent the first hour at the range teaching Wally gun safety and how to shoot, after which he challenged him to a gentleman's shooting competition.

Alfred had spent many years practicing his aim and shooting skills but they were all useless when Wally simply mimicked each one of his shots.

"By the way Master West I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to Master Bruce; I don't think he would appreciate me teaching you how to use a gun."

That left Wally a little confused. Bruce had just spent the last year teaching him how to use blades, bombs, and fighting techniques that could be used to cause just as much damage as a gun.

Seeing Wally's confusion Alfred decided to elaborate. "As you well know he has an unpleasant past with guns, he only approves of me using them since I have a history with them. "

"What type of history could an English gentleman like you have that would make using guns normal?"

Alfred let out a small laugh and gave Wally an abridged version of his history. He explained how he was once an actor in the British theater but found the life rather boring. So he joined British intelligence and was even a skilled army medic. He then came to serve the Wayne family at the request of his dying father and has served the Wayne family since Bruce was in diapers.

That shocked Wally; Alfred just gained a new level of awesome. But before he could ask further questions Alfred's phone rang and he opened up to read a text message."I apologize but I must cut our contest short, there are matters that require my attention. I must ask that you go relax in the lounge, I trust you, but I can't let a teenager use guns unsupervised." Wally wanted to protest but the second Alfred was finished speaking he left the room.

Wally decided to listen to the man and put the gun back onto the gun rack and went to the lounge to relax and watch television. After about fifteen minutes of watching television he was getting bored. When it was obvious there wasn't anything good on television he decided to see what Alfred was doing.

After a few minutes of searching he found the older man in the Batcave using the Batcomputer. Alfred saw Wally come in and turned to address him.

"I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly Master West but a situation arose that needed my attention." Alfred began; he was speaking in a worried tone that made Wally feel on edge. "I received a distress call from Master Bruce's communicator. "

He pressed several keys on the Batcomputer and the monitor showed a map of the city, the map had two red dots flashing. "These dots show their location, I usually wouldn't be so worried but they aren't responding to my calls." He finished, the man was obviously distressed.

"Have you tried calling anyone for help?" Wally asked, he was getting worried himself.

"I've tried all available members of the Justice League but all of them are busy with their own problems and I can't get in contact with them."

"Send me out there, I can investigate and see if they're okay."Wally said without hesitation.

"Absolutely not, I won't put your life on the line Master West. The computer says they are located in the narrows which is too dangerous for you o go to this time of night" Alfred declared, with absolute authority.

Wally wasn't fazed one bit. "Look you said it yourself no one from the Justice league can come in, and they might be in danger. It's what I've been training all year for!"

Alfred thought about it for a minute. He didn't want to send a young man into danger, heck he still hated the fact that Richard was off fighting crime as Robin every night. But it looked like he had no choice, the League was busy, and police wouldn't be subtle enough to send in to the narrows. "Very well, follow me to the armory."

They both walked over to the Batcaves armory. It was essentially a large room dedicated to holding all of the various gadgets and weapons that Batman would use. Alfred led Wally over to a door in the back of the armory, it was a door Wally had seen many times but never went into due to Bruce claiming it was "off limits" to him.

Alfred entered in a pass code on the door and led Wally in. "This is Master Bruce's research and development room, where he tinkers with various prototype technology that Wayne enterprises creates. Some of these devices he made himself."

The room was much more disorderly then the weapon room. Various devices and spare parts were strewn across various tables and workbenches. The room looked like an electronics store threw up all its spare parts in it. However Wally's inspection of the room was interrupted when he saw what was in the middle of it.

It was a mannequin; this wouldn't be unusual except it had a costume on it. It looked almost exactly like the drawing he gave to Bruce except for the fact it was missing the cape and the mask was different. The outfit consisted of what appeared to be modern body armor covered in a thin dark blue fabric. The fabric went over all the armor and was topped off with a hood. But what stood out most was the mask; it looked like it was made out of an unknown metal and looked like a skull.

Alfred walked over to the mannequin and began giving Wally the rundown of the outfit. "This is the Wayne tech infiltrator armor, originally designed for U.S special agents who needed to sneak behind enemy lines unnoticed. Master Bruce has spent the last few months resizing it and giving it necessary upgrades."

"Master West I suggest you begin to put on your new costume while I explain the basics about it." Alfred said, while picking up a small clipboard that was lying on a table nearby. Wally nodded and began to put the costume on; it was extremely light and formfitting.

As Wally put on the costume Alfred began reading information off the clipboard he picked up. "The armor is composed of Kevlar and a small percentage of titanium; it is bullet-proof and resistant to most forms of attack such as blunt trauma, bullets, and explosions. It is also flame-retardant and insulated. The gloves and the boots are reinforced to nullify the impact of punches and kicks."

That information was staggering. Wally couldn't believe that armor this light was capable of doing all that, it sounded like something straight out of science fiction.

"That sounds amazing, how much does a set of armor like this cost?"Wally asked while putting on the costumes combat boots.

"It's a prototype, never made it to the mass market. The U.S government didn't think a set of armor that cost several million dollars in parts alone was "economical" no matter how well it performed. Their loss is your gain I suppose."

That statement made Wally feel nervous. He didn't like the idea of taking an outfit worth several million dollars into a possible gunfight. But it looked like he didn't have a choice. Besides Bruce was a billionaire he wouldn't get angry over a few million dollars.

Wally finished putting on the armor, it felt amazing, the only thing left was the mask. The front of the mask was metallic while the middle and back were made out of a black fabric that he could only guess was Kevlar. He put it on and saw only darkness; the damn things eye-holes weren't working.

"Alfred I can't see a thing out of this Mask, I think it's broken." He said with an exacerbated sigh.

"It's not broken Master West it simply hasn't been turned on, come over here for a second and Ill fix it."

Wally felt the older man fiddling with the mask and suddenly his eyes were assaulted with light. After a few seconds he could see perfectly fine. His vision was so clear it was like he wasn't wearing mask at all, the thing didn't leave any blind spots.

Seeing the boys surprise the older man elaborated. "The mask has micro cameras installed on the outside allowing realistic vision. It also has night vision, thermal vision, and a HUD that allows data to be displayed right before your eyes. Also if you press the button on the right side of the mask it will enter "intimidation mode", it's designed for to scare opponents, it also activates voice modulation software designed to make your voice sound deeper and less human."

"Why would I need to change my voice?" Wall asked curiously.

"It's to instill fear in your opponents. You won't scare many people by sounding like a kid."

That got Wally a little upset. He was almost fourteen years old…well maybe more like thirteen in a half but it was close.

He decided to keep quiet to avoid an argument and instead he chose to familiarize himself with the mask and its technical abilities. He tested out night vision, thermal vision, and all the HUD interfaces abilities as well as "intimidation mode" which turned the masks eyes red. The voice changing software made his voice much deeper and sound a little bit evil.

After getting full acquainted with the inner workings of the armor, Alfred led him back into the weapons room. They looked at the various weapons displayed and Alfred showed Wally several that Bruce had designed specifically for him.

"Bruce observed you training with Master Richard and designed this specifically for you." He handed Wally a wrist mounted device that looked like a white gauntlet. He put it on his left wrist and after fumbling with it for a bit it activated and created a large circular shield made entirely of glowing orange energy.

"It's an energy shield, made of highly energized atoms capable of blocking almost anything. It's also weightless allowing you to wield a sword in your other hand. You can even deactivate and reactivate it in seconds, allowing you to swap weapons or switch to using two weapons." Alfred finished while handing Wally other pieces of equipment he would need.

Wally was given a utility belt which he filled with items of his choice. He chose shurikens, smoke bombs, and a butterfly knife along with many other devices that Alfred handed to him. His main weapon of choice was a katana and a wrist mounted dart launcher that he out on his right wrist. After all his weapons were selected Alfred gave him one last thing to aid him in combat. It was a large vial of a potent nerve toxin meant to coat bladed weapons. Apparently Batman coated his batarangs with the toxin allowing him to incapacitate opponents by giving them even the tiniest of cuts.

He was now prepared to go out and investigate what happened to Batman and Robin. Unfortunately Wally and Alfred had different opinions on the best way for him to travel.

"Look they could be in danger and I need a fast way to travel, and the Batmobile is the fastest car here." Wally argued, he hopped into the car's driver seat and began fumbling with the controls. As he did that Alfred Walked up to the driver's side window and tried talking the boy out of the idea.

"Master West I must ask you to cease touching those controls you have no experience driving this car." Alfred said sternly trying to get the boy to stop. Wally simply shrugged in response.

"I've watched Bruce do this tons of times, it will be a piece of cake for me to replicate." Wally pushed a small button he thought was the ignition but instead the button triggered the Batmobiles missile launcher which launched a missile straight into the Batcomputer at the end of the cave, effectively blowing it to smithereens.

Alfred was not amused. "Get out of the driver's seat this instant! You're going to get us killed!" He yelled, trying to get the boy away from the steering wheel. Wally ignored the man's pleas and continued trying to drive the car.

"Sorry! I'll help clean it up later, just give me another shot I can totally figure this out." He declared confidently. He started up the car and pushed the accelerator, which promptly sent the Batmobile hurtling backwards until it hit a wall.

"Oh my god… why are there six pedals if there are only four directions?" Wally asked angrily as he tried to correct his mistake. Before he could even try and touch the steering wheel Alfred opened up the driver's side door and pushed Wally into the passenger seat and got into the driver seat himself.

Within a few seconds Alfred put the car into gear and drove it out of the Batcave and into the old road outside Wayne manor. Wally sat in the passenger seat with his arms crossed.

"I could've done that if you gave me more time." He said stubbornly while looking out the Batmobiles window. He looked over at Alfred and saw the man's eyes were serious and his jaw clenched, he was angry.

"When we find out what happened to Batman and Robin you are going to help me clean up the mess you made in the Bat cave." Alfred said, in a neutral tone trying to keep his anger under control. Wally nodded; he was going to avoid angering the elderly butler further.

Wally sat back and tried to enjoy the ride.

OoOoOo

_Thirty minutes later_

After what seemed like an eternity of wading through traffic Alfred finally brought the Batmobile to a stop in the narrows. This was easily the worst part of town and it showed, the buildings were decrepit and every single surface in the area was covered in various graffiti.

Wally opened the Batmobiles passenger door and stepped out into the street. Alfred had driven him to the eastern part of the narrows and they were across the street from the building where Batman's distress call came from. It was a museum; specifically it was Cyrus Pinkney's Institute for Natural History. Wally walked over to the driver side door.

"So this is where Batman's SOS came from?" Wally asked Alfred while scoping the building out. Alfred had parked them across the street in an old alley way. With the Batmobiles dark color they were hidden from any prying eyes. Not that it mattered, the streets were abandoned and the only noise came from distant traffic and a few dogs barking.

"I'm almost completely certain this is where the Distress call came from Master West. I must ask that you be careful, Gotham's worst criminals are known to dwell within these old abandoned buildings. If you find yourself in trouble don't hesitate to run or call for help." Alfred answered; he was clearly worried about Wally. The idea of sending a young boy into a possible deathtrap didn't sit well with him, but he saw no alternatives. The Justice Leagues members were either busy or unreachable and the police weren't subtle enough for this kind of situation.

"Gotham city officials should really think about demolishing all these old abandoned buildings. I mean if they blew up all the abandoned factories, warehouses, and museums all the villains would have no place to make evil plans, and it would be easier to catch them." Wally said out loud while he was checking over his equipment for the tenth time.

Wally finally decided he was ready and walked out of the alley way and snuck across the street. He reached the museums front door. He walked up to the door and was surprised to find the door open; if this was a villain hideout it certainly wasn't well secured.

He opened the large wooden door that led into the museum and any thought of it being abandoned quickly vanished. He found himself in a large lobby no doubt meant to welcome visitors who wanted to see the exhibits, all the lights were on and the building was relatively clean and seemed lived in.

He began walking into the lobby and immediately regretted walking so casually because he tripped a sensor and the museum began a very loud welcoming orientation process.

"_Welcome to the Cyrus Pinkney's Institute for Natural History. All visitors must be searched as part of a commitment to keeping our museum safe. Thank you for your cooperation." _A robotic voice said over the intercom.

That immediately destroyed any attempt at stealth. Wally heard loud footsteps coming his way and hid in a dark corner behind a display case. From his hiding place he saw three men enter the lobby, many of them we wearing black Ski masks with white coloring around the eyes. Wally identified them as henchmen belonging to the Penguin, one of Gotham's criminal masterminds.

"Anyone see anything? That sensor wouldn't go off unless something triggered it."The leader of the three thugs asked. He was armed with a pistol while the other two had knives in their hands.

"Relax Tony; nobody would be stupid enough to enter this place. This is the heart of our turf, even the Joker isn't crazy enough to come barging in here. Let's go back and play some poker in the lounge, its warmer in there" One of the men answered while casually looking around the lobby. Tony wasn't reassured.

"Look if the boss figures out someone managed to sneak in here when we were supposed to be watching the front door he'll throw us into Gotham bay with a nice pair of lead shoes strapped to our feet." The leader responded while looking around the lobby. Wally stayed hidden behind the display case not making a sound.

Wally took this opportunity to familiarize himself with the room. The lobby was obviously dedicated to the prehistoric era of history. There were pterodactyl skeletons on the ceiling and numerous dinosaur exhibits and fossils in the display cases. The display case Wally was hiding behind was dedicated to ancient fossils.

After analyzing the room Wally formulated an attack plan. He waited until the leader of the group walked near his display case. When the man was several yards away Wally grabbed a shuriken from his utility belt and stealthily threw it at one of the pterodactyl skeletons hanging from the ceiling.

The results were exactly what Wally was hoping for. The Shuriken cut one of the wires holding the pterodactyl up, causing it to fall to the lobby floor. All three of the thugs immediately turned to the sound of the commotion. The leader turned towards the noise and had his back to Wally, while he was distracted, Wally made his move.

Wally activated the energy shield on the side of his hand and rushed out at the leader. Unfortunately the man heard the sound of the shield activating and turned around in time to open fire at Wally with his pistol. The thug was so scared he didn't even aim, allowing Wally to simply bring the shield up in front of his body and it deflected each of the bullets the man shot.

The second the thug was out of bullets Wally rammed his shield into the thug's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of the man and cracking a few of his ribs. The other two thugs heard all the commotion and immediately ran at Wally with knives brandished, prepared to stab him.

They never even got close to him. Wally simply raised his right arm and used his wrist mounted dart launcher to shoot each of the thugs in the chest. Both of them fell to the ground unconscious, the nerve toxin would keep them asleep for several hours at least, by then the police could take them into custody.

Wally turned his attention to the leader of the group who was on the ground nursing his ribs. Wally walked over to him and kicked the man's pistol to the other side of the room so he wouldn't be able to reach it. The thug simply spat at Wally and cursed him.

"Who the hell do you think you are? I'm a member of Penguins gang; he's going to mess you up bad for doing this." The man yelled angrily, while trying to get up off the ground. But Wally grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against a nearby wall.

The thug got a clear look at Wally's mask. "Who the hell are you supposed to be Skeletor?" He taunted, trying to sound fearless.

That made Wally angry; he activated his masks intimidation mode and the voice changing software. The results were instantaneous. The masks eyes turned a blood red and his voice sounded like a monsters.

"**Tell me what Penguin is planning and I might not break every bone in your body!"**Wally yelled angrily trying to scare the man into talking. Wally could tell it was working, the thug was trembling.

"Fine I'll tell you everything! The boss is preparing for an auction; he plans on selling the Bat and Bird to the highest bidder." He answered nervously.

Wally's eyes widened, his worst fears were true. Batman and Robin were captured by the Penguin; he shook the thug roughly trying to get the man to talk more.

"**How did they get captured and how many men are in this museum!"**

"We started a rumor on the streets that the boss had Cat woman prisoner. When Bats came in here to try and "rescue" her we trapped him instead. The Bat and Bird are caged in the main hall at the end of the museum. Penguin has about twenty guys with him; you'll never make it past all of them." He answered, he laughed at the last part. He was sure the boy would meet his doom.

"**Thanks for the information**." Wally responded right before punching the man in the face, knocking him unconscious. He went around the room and tied each of the thug's hands together. When he finished he activated his radio and contacted Alfred.

"_Alfred I have confirmation that Batman and Robin are being held in this museu. Penguin is planning _some_ sort of "auction" not sure what that means but it can't be good."_

"_Indeed. It sounds like Master Bruce has gotten into a great deal of trouble. I'm calling Commissioner Gordon, he'll have the building surrounded with SWAT teams within the hour. I suggest you get out of there, the police can take it from here" _Alfred responded over the radio.

Wally shook his head, there just wasn't enough time. He wasn't going to leave his friend in this place a second longer. "_Negative, I'm going in. Have the SWAT teams enter through the front entrance, I'll have most of the rooms clear of gang members by the time they get here."_

"_Master West get out of there this instant! It's too dangerous; Penguin is one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham." _Alfred yelled angrily over the radio. It was the first time Wally ever heard the man raise his voice.

"_Nothing you say will change my mind. You can either help me, or I can shut off my radio and ignore you."_ Wally responded, there was no way in hell he was going to leave run away like a coward.

There was a long silence but the older man finally conceded. "_Very well Master West, I'll bring up Penguins psyche profile while you continue."_

Wally felt a bit of relief knowing that the Alfred was going to help him. He left the lobby and began walking deep into the museum. Wally was sure to keep quiet and checked every single door and exhibit for traps or sensors. While he was advancing deeper into the museum Alfred briefed him on The Penguins psychological profile.

"_The Penguin, Real Name: Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. Pushed into schizotypical behavior by an inferiority complex Cobblepot's specific eccentricities revolve around an obsession with ornithology and intense ideation based around umbrellas. Probing into possible sources for his insecurities always trigger intense overcompensation on his part, in the form of rantings about his business acumen and misunderstood intelligence. His off-putting, antisocial behavior is frequently at odds with his need to be valued and admired." _Alfred finished, in an unhappy tone. He had a distinct hatred for the Penguin since the man was an enemy of the Wayne family.

Wally nodded to himself after hearing that, he had a few ideas on how to exploit the man. _"Thanks for the information Alfred. If I encounter the Penguin I might be able to exploit his insecurities by making fun of him and his obsession with birds. Also ill try to avoid his umbrellas." _

"_Sounds like a good plan Master West, good luck."_

Wally continued sneaking through the museum. He walked through hallways, corridors, and numerous exhibit rooms but he didn't encounter anymore of penguins henchmen. If the thug from earlier was telling the truth he should have encountered a few more people. He shook those thoughts from his head and continued until he found himself in a huge room.

The room felt like a staging area for…

"A trap "Wally finished out loud.

The doorway that he had just walked through closed and locked itself behind him.

"_Where the hell is admiral Ackbar when you need him?"_

Looking around he saw the room was like a gladiator arena, the only exits were caged and there was a large platform directly ahead of him. Numerous weapons like baseball bats, and pipes lay strewn around the floor. The two staircases that led up to the platform were covered in barbed wire and the walls were covered in metal fencing that was electrified, ensuring no one could climb out.

A small figure walked out onto the platform. It was a small man wearing a top hat, monocle, and a tuxedo. He was twirling around a small umbrella and had a cigar between his lips.

"Look what the Bat dragged in." The Penguin sneered; he stood on the platform confidently, flanked on both sides by two men carrying assault rifles.

Wally pulled out a shuriken from his utility belt and was preparing to throw it.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you. Show him what we got boys." Penguin said, signaling his men. Both of his bodyguards aimed their rifles at him; Wally could see their targeting lasers were aimed directly at his chest. He lowered his shuriken and was getting ready to activate his energy shield should the henchmen open fire.

"Surprised I was ready for you?" Penguin sneered, while taking several puffs from his cigar. "I have hidden cameras all over this museum, tiny little things no bigger than a cockroach; I knew you were here the second you entered."

"Then why did you let me get this far?"Wally asked, he wanted to keep the man talking as long as possible while he tried to formulate a plan to get out of this mess.

"I was curious. I pride myself on knowing everything that goes on in this city. I know every single criminal, cop, and vigilante…and yet I've never seen you around here before. You're not a member of the League which leaves two options. Your either a thief come here to steal from me or your some no name vigilante come here on a rescue mission. "Penguin finished, tossing aside his old cigar and lighting up a new one."So tell me boy, you ere for the dynamic duo? Or me?"

"I came here to rescue the hostages. But now I'm taking you down too." Wally answered, he was ready to spring into action the second any one of Penguins thugs made a move to shoot their guns.

"Aren't you scary? Ahahahaahah!" Penguin laughed loudly, his men quickly joining him. Soon the entire room was filled with laughter all of it directed at Wally.

"You're about to find out how scary I can be." Wally answered dangerously. He did not like being laughed at.

"Am I really? Listen, I'm what you might call... a collector. If someone wants it, I like to think I've got it. And if I don't have it...I'll get it. So here's the thing, I finally managed to capture Batman, and Robin, two people that any number of criminals would pay big bucks to own. They're sitting in the room behind me tied up in some display cases. " Penguin asked in a cocky tone, while he took a puff from his cigar.

"And as it so happens I have a spare cabinet with your name on it…say…what is your name? You hero types always have some sort of name." Penguin asked, genuinely curious.

Wally didn't know how to answer that question. He hadn't even thought about his superhero name until now, and no ideas came to mind. . _"Let's see…Nightblade? No already taken. …copycat? No that's too girly. Spectre? No that's taken as well, and that dudes a psychopath. Let's see…I can copy people and master any task given to me…Taskmaster?" _ It wasn't a great name but it was better than saying he didn't have a name.

"My names Taskmaster."

"Taskmaster eh? Well Taskmaster, are you going to be a good boy and give up nicely?" Penguin asked in a condescending tone.

"You're not giving orders here anymore, Cobblepot." Taskmaster answered, his tone was turning dangerous. He wasn't going to surrender to a freaky little dwarf in a tuxedo.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Penguin pulled a remote out of his tuxedo and pushed several buttons. The doors on the sides of the arena opened up and twenty men rushed into the room and quickly surrounded Taskmaster, the thugs were all armed with knives, baseball bats, and pipes.

"Look around yourself, this group of psychopaths are the best men I've got, you have no chance of survival. Get em Lads! Whoever brings me his mask as a trophy will get something special in their next paycheck!" Penguin proclaimed loudly.

Before any of the thugs could rush forward to attack, Taskmaster pulled out several smoke grenades from his utility belt. These grenades were designed for confusing and blinding the enemy for a quick escape, but Taskmaster had something special in mind. He threw all the grenades on the ground around him and filled the entire room with a thick black smoke, confusion and fear overcame all the gang members who couldn't even see their own hand in front of their faces.

Taskmaster activated his masks thermal vision and was able to see all the thugs perfectly fine in the black smoke. He activated his masks intimidation mode and voice changing software; he would use fear to win this fight.

"**The darkness surrounds you, overwhelming all your senses, and clouding your mind." **Taskmaster said, his voice echoing throughout the entire room. All of Penguins henchmen immediately began to panic, making them easier targets.

"I can't see anything in this smoke, where the hell is he!" One of them yelled, the smoke was blocking out his vision completely. He suddenly saw a pair of horrible red eyes in appear in the smoke and he panicked.

"He's over here; help me out before he ARRGGHHGH!" He screamed, Taskmaster had silenced him with a swift roundhouse kick to the head.

Another thug followed the sound of the scream and met the exact same fate as his friend. It wasn't long until the smoke filled room was filled with the terrified screams of Penguins henchmen who were being slowly taken out by Taskmaster. Each thug he attacked would scream and call for the help of his friends, making his comrades panic. It wasn't long until they became so scared and confused they began attacking each other.

"**You are all in my world now!"**

Taskmaster continued taking each man out one by one. He never felt as powerful as he did now, basking the fear of his enemies. Watching them scream and flee in terror from him. It is said that men fear what they cannot see and terror clouds their senses, distorting their minds. In reality Wally was just a thirteen year old boy, but to them he was a wraith in the darkness preying upon each of them like a monster. Over the course of two minutes Taskmaster managed to dispatch each one of Penguins men.

Penguin stood on his platform trying to figure out what was going on. All he could see was the darkness of the smoke and the sounds of his men's screams. He was becoming scared; he turned to his bodyguards and began to bark out orders.

"The second that smoke clears I want the two of you to put a bullet between Taskmasters eyes. I want him dead, beaten, broken, and his head mounted on my museums wall!"

His bodyguards nodded, but it was obvious they were nervous their hands shook as they aimed their rifles into the smoke waiting for Taskmaster to show his face. They never got the chance to shoot because after several moments two darts soared out of the smoke and hit each of them in the chest. They were unconscious in seconds. Seeing his bodyguards fall, Penguin fled the scene. He ran to the back room of the museum.

Taskmaster saw the man flee and decided to pursue him. Seeing that all the stairs and doorways were blocked he decided to use an alternative method of reaching the platform. Taskmaster grabbed a grappling gun from his utility belt and used it to ascend to the platform where Penguin formerly occupied.

He quickly ran after the man, he ran through several hallways until he found himself in another huge exhibit room. This one looked like a trophy room and in the center of it lay Batman and Robin tied up and held in glass display cases.

Before he could even think about releasing them Penguin stepped out into the open, a fencing sword in his hands. "Well Taskmaster I have to admit, your pretty damn good. You took out all my men and made it to the heart of my operations, but it ends now." He said pointing the sword at the young boy. Taskmaster simply laughed at the short man.

Batman and Robin couldn't believe what they were seeing. When Penguin and his men had left they began working on untying their bonds. They were about halfway through when Penguin came running back into the room scared out of his mind cursing about someone named "Taskmaster". Now they were looking at Wally in full battle gear, rescuing them. Upon hearing Wally's laugh Batman decided to warn the boy.

"Don't underestimate him; he's an expert in fencing and Judo!" Batman yelled hoping to warn the boy before he charged into a fight he wasn't ready for. Taskmaster turned to Batman with a raised eyebrow.

"This guys an expert in Judo? Dudes like four feet tall and chubby." Taskmaster said, not really believing what he was hearing.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me, now are you going to fight me like a man, or is that sword on your back just for decoration?" Penguin sneered; he hated being ignored.

Taskmaster reached for the katana strapped to his back. His fists and shield had been more than enough to take out Penguins henchmen so he hadn't had a need to use it tonight…until now. He looked over at Batman and Robin; both of them were watching the fight with rapt attention. It made him feel nervous; it was like he was being judged on his performance. Taskmaster shook his head clear of those thoughts and prepared to fight.

Taskmaster ran forward and swung his sword at his opponent who expertly blocked the blow. They continued to exchange blows, each probing the other for any weaknesses.

While Taskmaster and Penguin began their duel, Batman and Robin took this opportunity to try and escape their display cases.

After about a minute of exchanging blows Taskmaster decided it was time to use his most powerful weapon, his mouth.

"Why the hell did you decide to call yourself "The Penguin"? It's kind of a lame name since Penguins suck." Taskmaster said casually while dodging a few swipes from Penguins sword. The short man got visibly angry at the boys statement.

"How dare you insult the Penguin? It is the most dignified and sophisticated of all the birds in the ornithological kingdom! An unsophisticated ruffian like you has no right insulting it!" He yelled angrily, while swing his sword viciously at Taskmaster.

Taskmaster simply dodged the swipes and continued talking as if nothing was happening. "Do you think a penguin would taste like a chicken or a fish? Or a combination of both? They are a type of chicken but eat a lot of fish, so I think the latter."

"What kind of a moron are you? A Penguin isn't a type of chicken you blithering idiot!" Penguin screamed, he was beginning to get sloppy with his sword work and it was showing. Taskmaster got the upper hand and began forcing the older man to go on the defensive.

Seeing that his strategy of enraging the man was working Taskmaster decided to continue the verbal assault. "It's like a chicken. They both can't fly and are more agile in the water then they are on land. If I was a penguin I would steal fish from other penguins, since I've seen documentaries where penguins are eaten by killer whales, so there is no way I would go into the water. I would probably just eat the other penguins, or convince an army of my penguin friends to try and kill a polar bear and eat it. Who do you think would win in a fight, a polar bear or two hundred penguins?"

Penguin didn't reply this time he simply swung, stabbed, and jabbed with his fencing sword as many times as he could manage. This had the effect of tiring out the older man quickly since he was wasting large amounts of energy whenever he mindlessly swung his sword at Taskmaster. He was already becoming red in the face as a result of anger, and exhaustion.

Seeing that his victory was near, Taskmaster decided to finish the fight with a few more insults aimed at The Penguins physical appearance. "Also what's up with your outfit? Tux, monocle, and a top hat, you're a mustache away from being the Monopoly guy."

"Do not pass goal! Do not collect two hundred dollars!" He chimed in a singsong voice. The enraged Penguin finally swung his sword in an extremely sloppy fashion giving Wally the opening he needed. He dodged to the side and swung his katana at the Penguin, cutting the man on the arm.

"I win." Taskmaster declared happily, while sheathing his katana back into its back holster.

Penguin stared at Taskmaster with a confused expression on his face. "What the hell do you mean by "I win."? All you did was cut my arm; I've had paper cuts bigger then this thing."

"I coated my sword with a neurotoxin before coming here. You should be feeling dizzy in a few seconds, and you'll be unconscious soon after that." Taskmaster explained, trying to resist laughing at the man's startled expression.

"This…isn't...over…" Penguin managed to say before he fell onto the ground. The toxins effects were already taking effect on the short man. He looked up at Taskmaster, barely managing to stay conscious. "Ill…have…my revenge." With that said he passed out.

"That was fun." Taskmaster said out loud to himself. He stared at the unconscious man barely able to believe he managed to do it. He just took out the Penguin and his gang. Wally west, the biggest nerd in Central city managed to defeat one of Gotham's most dangerous crime lord's singlehandedly.

He turned his attention to Batman and Robin who were still struggling in their glass prisons. He walked up to Robins display case and tried opening it.

Robin was relieved to see Wally. "Dude it is so good to see you, how did you know where we were?"

"Let's leave the questions for later, let's just focus on getting you out of there.

Wally tried smashing the glass prison with his shield but the glass was shatterproof and most likely bulletproof. He pulled out a glasscutter from his utility belt and cut a large opening in the glass. He stepped in and unlocked the shackles that held Robin in place. The Boy Wonder began stretching his now free limbs and turned to address his friend.

"So…Taskmaster eh? That your new name now Wallace?" Robin asked, trying to suppress laughter. Wally crossed his arms and tried to defend his new name.

"Penguin asked me what my name was and I panicked. I hadn't even thought about it until now, besides I think its suits me. I've learnt from so many sources that even my photographic memory has trouble keeping track of them. From heroes and villains like Wonder woman, Deathstroke and even Batman…All their skills are mine for the mimicking. Big, small, there's no task I can't master." Wally declared proudly, intent on defending his new name.

"Well I guess it suits you, but Taskmaster is too long to say in casual conversation…I think I'll just call you TM." Robin smiled, happy to have found his friend a new nickname.

"I guess TM works as a nickname, well let's untie Batman and get out of here." Taskmaster turned around to get Batman out of his glass prison, but he found the Dark Knight standing right behind him.

"How the hell did you get out of that prison?" he asked, amazed at the man's escape. Batman simply shrugged and rubbed his wrists trying to get feeling back into them after they were restrained for so long.

"I've been planning my escape for the last hour, everything was under control." Batman declared, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "The better question is why you are here? I locked that suit you're wearing away and I didn't call you for help."

"Alfred received your distress call and sent me in to investigate." Taskmaster answered; He walked over to the unconscious penguin and handcuffed him to ensure he wouldn't wake up and escape.

"I wanted Alfred to call the police, not send you into unnecessary danger, you could have died." It was obvious to Robin that Batman wasn't angry, but worried. The Dark knight walked over to Wally and began inspecting him for any injuries he might have sustained. "You're lucky; it seems you're going to have a few bruises. You're lucky you didn't get shot."

Taskmaster looked over himself and he felt a few bruises developing on his body where a few of Penguins henchmen managed to get in a few hits. He simply shrugged, they would heal in no time and it was nothing permanent.

"You did well; I don't think you need to take a final test. You've just demonstrated that you're ready to start fighting crime alongside your Uncle in Central City." The boy's eyes lit up and he practically jumped for joy. After almost a year of training he was finally going to be fighting crime with his Uncle.

That very moment the doors to the room swung open and several SWAT team members of the GCPD flooded into the room brandishing assault rifles. Behind them Commissioner Gordon walked in scanning the room and barking out orders.

"I want every room of this museum swept from top to bottom. I want every gang member arrested, and every piece of evidence bagged and tagged." He ordered, seeing Batman and Robin he walked over and greeted them.

"Batman, what the hell happened? We got an anonymous tip saying Penguin was holding hostages here; do you know what's going on?" Gordon asked.

"We were the hostages. Robin and I were captured and held prisoner, it might now have turned out so well if Taskmaster hadn't turned up to save us." Batman explained while gesturing towards Wally. Gordon raised an eyebrow at; he hadn't even noticed Taskmaster standing behind Batman.

"Taskmaster? Batman I didn't like the idea of you bringing a kid like Robin into the vigilante business but I have to pull the line somewhere. You can't start a Bat army of kids to fight crime." Gordon said in reference to Wally's age. Even behind his costume his age was obvious since he was only a little taller than Robin.

Taskmaster was about to defend Batman but the Dark Knight beat him to the punch. "Taskmaster isn't my sidekick, he's Flashes partner. He's on loan to us from Central city, helping us deal with the rise in crime we've been experiencing." Batman explained.

Gordon raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn't even heard about Flash having a sidekick. Looking at the masked boy he couldn't see any similarity between him and the Flash. Not one to doubt the word of Batman Gordon nodded and held his hand out to Taskmaster. "I've never heard of you, but I want to thank you for helping out Batman. Gotham's a tough city to police and I'm willing to accept any help we can get."

Taskmaster shook the man's hand. "No problem commissioner, If Gotham ever needs help I'll be happy to lend you my aid."

"I really appreciate that. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get Penguin to his cell In Arkham asylum and his men into Blackgate prison." With that said the commissioner left to escort the criminals out of the museum.

"You guys think I should change my name? I really rushed when I chose it and I think I can make a better one. What do you think of Blacklight? Nightingale? Or maybe Nightstalker?" Taskmaster asked, still unsure in his name choice.

"You're stuck with Taskmaster. When Penguin goes to Arkham he's going to spread your name around and soon the entire criminal underworld will know you as Taskmaster." Batman explained.

Taskmaster nodded sadly. "Fine, I could have picked worst names I suppose. At least I wasn't stupid enough to name myself after a small bird like some people in this room. OW!" Taskmaster yelled, rubbing his arm where Robin had just punched him.

"Dude there's nothing wrong with my name, now let's go home." Robin suggested, he was tired after the night's events.

Batman nodded and tried calling the Batcave but couldn't get into contact with it. "Strange the Batcomputer isn't responding, must be having hardware problems."

Taskmaster rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ummm yeah... about that…I may have damaged the Batcomputer."

"What did you do?" Batman asked, his tone turning dark and serious.

"It's nothing; you'll see when we get back to the cave. Trust me it's nothing a little duct tape and black paint won't fix." Taskmaster answered.

Overcome with exhaustion Batman simply nodded. He would deal with whatever damage the Batcave suffered at a later time. Right now he just wanted to get Wally and Richard home so that they could rest.

OoOoOo

_One hour later_

"When you said you caused some damage to the Batcomputer I expected the worst…but I had no idea it would be this bad." Bruce said, he had changed out of his costume and was now looking at the charred remains of the Batcomputer.

"Not my fault you put the missile launch button right next to the ignition." Wally explained, trying to defend his actions. He had also changed out of his costume and was standing next to Bruce as the man investigated the charred wreckage.

"I guess I'm going to have to build a new one from scratch. For now let's talk about you." Bruce said, looking at Wally. "There's little else I can teach you, it's time for you to join your Uncle in the fight against crime on the streets of Central city."

The two of them stared at each other for at least a minute, neither sure what to say. Wally finally decided to break the silence.

"Bruce, I want to thank you…for everything." Wally was actively trying to resist hugging the man. "Does me joining my Uncle mean I can't come here anymore?"

"You'll still need to come here to get new equipment, and to repair any damage your suit takes when you're working in the field." Bruce explained.

"I mean for social visits. I…kind of like it here, and Richard is pretty much the only friend I have." Wally said sadly. The idea of not hanging out with Richard and Alfred depressed him, he came to consider all of them family over the course of his training. Richard was like a brother, Alfred a grandfather, and Bruce was like a crazy uncle.

"You can come over here as much as you like…on one condition."

"What's the condition?" Wally asked, he would do anything to be able to come back to Wayne manor and visit his friends.

"Never set foot in the Batmobile again."

"Deal."

OoOoOo

**Important Authors note please read.**

I say this one is important because of my bad description of Wally's costume. So please follow the links on my profile for visual aids.

This was a long chapter and a pain to write and edit. I apologize for any mistakes or confusing sentences. But keep in mind I'm doing this all by myself and it's my first story. This chapter I feel people will either love it or hate it. It has everything that has made my story "good" but also has tons of new things that people may or may not like. It also introduces Wally's costume and fighting style. So this is my riskiest chapter. It decides the fate of my entire story and whether or not I will continue writing. So please leave me feedback and tell me what you think.

Anyone familiar with marvel will recognize the name Taskmaster. I didn't want to use the name but I did anyway. Taskmaster is a minor Marvel character and I used him as the basis for Wally's powers and looks. So read up on him for more info.

Well I think this is it, next chapter will take place in the first episode of the show. If any of you have suggestions please them in a review or PM me.

I would like to thank all the people who reviewed the last chapter. People like Hybrid301,Angel of Mysteries, Ladymysteri, silvernagel83, doctorwho733,blackirishawk,sumbunnyluvsu77,Dextra2, Choclatpen, Cary99, Ladydragonfly 123, My own mayday parade, Perfectlystrange, Kiacoral, annagray, Cade minstrel, and Irenerb. Thank you for all your support.

Also please leave a review. Your words of encouragement/criticism gives me the strength and will to continue writing and putting out chapters.


	5. Independance Day

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice.**

OoOoO

_Central City, July 4, 11:03 CDT_

"_Why the hell did Captain Cold have to stage a jewelry heist today of all days_?" Taskmaster thought to himself as he hid behind a car that had just been frozen solid by Captain Colds freeze gun. The Ice villain had just exited the jewelry store and now had him pinned down. He tried contacting the Flash but the man wasn't answering. He was alone for this fight.

"Looks likes it just you and me Taskmaster, Flash isn't here to save you anymore." Captain Cold stated happily as he shot his cold gun at anything that moved. The man was standing on the steps to the jewelry store and there was no easy way to attack him since he had the high ground. Wally cursed his uncle again for not being here to help him; the man was always late to everything.

Taskmaster decided to attack, he leapt out of his cover and used his wrist mounted dart launcher to shoot several darts at the ice villain, but the man simply froze them solid before they had a chance to come to close to hitting him. Captain Cold fired several blasts from his Cold gun in retaliation; Taskmaster managed to dodge the attacks and hid behind another car.

"You're no match for me Taskmaster. I know all of your little tricks and gadgets, there's no way you're getting the jump on me." Captain Cold said, while shooting his gun at the area Taskmaster was hiding.

"Then it's a good thing I got a few upgrades" Taskmaster said under his breath. He activated his wrist mounted energy shield and ran out of his cover. Captain Cold tried hitting the teenaged vigilante with blasts from his cold gun but he managed to dodge them. Taskmaster grabbed his energy shield with his right hand and threw it.

Captain Cold's eyes widened in surprise, he brought up his Cold gun in an attempt to freeze the shield that was soaring at him but he was too late. The shield smashed him in the chest, effectively knocking the wind out of him. The villain collapsed to the group gasping for breath, he looked up at Taskmaster who was slowly walking over towards his downed foe.

"How…did…you…" He managed to gasp out in between breaths.

"I upgraded my shield so that maintains its form for a short period of time after being disconnected from its power source." Taskmaster answered, He looked over at the shield as it was lying on the ground. After a few seconds it lost its form and disintegrated. Taskmaster grabbed a pair of handcuffs from his utility belt and slapped them around Colds wrists. Taskmaster saw Captain Colds Freeze gun lying on the ground nearby. He picked it up and attached it to his utility belt.

"Thanks for the souvenir." He said, in reference to the Freeze gun. "Now let's get you back to jail."

He began leading Cold to a waiting police car that was nearby. He handed cold off to the police who thanked him for saving the day. After they were done thanking Taskmaster they drove Cold off to get processed at Central City prison.

The second the police were gone Flash suddenly ran onto the scene. "Did I miss the fight, where's Cold?" He asked, gesturing to the now empty street.

"I had to bring him to justice alone…again. Tell me Flash how the hell is it that your always late to every single crime when you're the fastest man alive?" Taskmaster asked angrily. He was sick of his Uncles constant tardiness. This was the third time he had to bring in a criminal by himself this month. When he first started crime fighting in Central City he thought he would be working closely with his uncle as a partner. But he found himself running solo most of the time.

His Uncle rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and tried to explain his tardiness. "Well on my way down here I had to get a kitten out of a tree, put out two fires, help an old lady cross a busy street, and pick up tacos to recharge my energy since doing all those things tired me out." Flash explained while holding out a bag of Tacos. "I bought you some"

Taskmaster eyed the bag of tacos and grabbed it and began eating the contents. "I...forgive…you…this time." He managed to say in between mouthfuls of taco. "But we need to hurry if we are going to be on time. In case you've forgotten today is the day."

After finishing the bag of tacos in record time Taskmaster grabbed a remote from his utility belt and pushed several buttons. After a few seconds a bike drove around the corner and stopped right next to Taskmaster. It was jet black and extremely large; it had a cockpit and two engines situated behind it. The bike looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie.

The truth was that the bike was another one of Wayne enterprises "Non economical" military failures. It was designed to be a scouting hover bike with skirmisher capabilities. Its gravity hover technology allows travel over rough terrain with little loss of traction or speed, and can reach speeds high enough to break the sound barrier if given enough room to accelerate. The only problem with the bike was that the Artificial Intelligence needed to help pilot the bike when it reached maximum speeds was extremely expensive to make and attempting to pilot it manually would result in the death.

Luckily Batman made enough modifications and added a personalized artificial intelligence allowing Wally to pilot it easily. The bike allowed Wally to keep up with his uncle whenever the two of them went out on patrol or had to travel long distances to catch a criminal.

Flash looked nervously at Taskmaster as he got on the bike. "I still don't feel comfortable with you driving that thing all the time. Heck I'm surprised he even let you have a vehicle after the Batmobile incident."

Taskmaster hated it when they brought that up. It was a onetime thing and all he did was wreck a computer that Batman managed to replace in a few days. Besides the bike didn't even have a missile launcher.

"Do you have any better ideas? If you didn't run so fast I might be able to keep up with your speed on a normal motorcycle." Wally answered while revving the bike up.

"You could always climb onto my back; I'll just give you a piggyback ride." Flash answered while smiling at his nephew. "I remember back when you were a little kid you would wake me up in the middle of the night and ask if you could have piggyback rides."

Taskmaster blushed beneath his mask at that memory. "Yeah well I'm not a child anymore, I'm fifteen years old. Now let's get going or we are going to be the last ones there…again."

"Don't blame me for being nostalgic, you were a cute kid. Now you're a big greasy teenager with attitude."

Before Taskmaster could make a witty reply Flash ran off into the distance. Sighing in frustration Taskmaster hit the ignition and followed close behind.

OoOoO

_Washington DC, July 4, 14:00 EDT_

"Today's the day." Batman said as he looked over his fellow Justice League members and their sidekicks. He felt a great deal of pride as he put a comforting hand on Robins shoulder; this was a huge step forward for everyone here. Looking around he saw no sign of Barry or Wally which meant that they would be late once again.

"I knew we would be last!"

"_Speak of the devil."_ Batman thought to himself, he turned around and saw Taskmaster pull up on his hover bike with Flash right next to him. He nodded at the two of them as they took their places next to the group and greeted everyone. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride whenever he saw Wally as Taskmaster. The boy's skills and knowledge only continued to improve as he got older. He tested Wally's IQ the last time the redhead had visited the Batcave to hang out with Richard; the test showed his IQ was 169.

By his estimates it was only a matter of time before the boy became a formidable powerhouse._ "That much strength and intelligence can also become dangerous." _Batman thought to himself. Shaking those thoughts from his head he turned his attention back to the task at hand, bringing all the sidekicks into the Hall of Justice?

With everyone gathered up they all began their long trek into the Hall of Justice. Along the way numerous onlookers were taking pictures, asking questions, and filming them. The only thing keeping them all from swarming the group of heroes was a velvet rope. Some of the people were even dressed up in poorly made costumes in an attempt to emulate their favorite heroes.

"Is that Batman?"

"I see Flash and Flash junior!"

"His name isn't Flash junior it's Speedy, duh."

"No Speedy is Green arrows sidekick."

"Well that doesn't make any sense."

"All of you ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green arrow asked, barely able to contain his excitement.

"I was born ready." Speedy answered happily, he was having difficulty containing his excitement. Today was his first step to becoming a fully fledged member of the Justice League.

"Im just glad that we are all here." Kaldur stated happily, he was glad to be taking this next step alongside his king and friends.

"This is the first time all four sidekicks have been in the same place at the same time." Taskmaster said happily. Over the years he had the pleasure of working alongside everyone here and came to consider them all friends. It was nice being around them all at once.

"Don't call us sidekicks. Not after today." Speedy stated with a slight edge in his voice.

"What's wrong with being a sidekick? Many people have made great careers out of being sidekicks. Porky Pig had a career as a main character in his own cartoons but he only started doing his best work as a sidekick, and there's no shame in that." Taskmaster responded. He liked Speedy as a friend and ally but they guy's inferiority complex and attitude could grate on his nerves.

Speedy narrowed his eyes at Taskmaster. "Did you just compare me to Porky Pig?" He asked angrily.

"Your right that was a bad comparison, Poky Pig doesn't walk around with a huge stick up his ass OW!" Taskmaster yelled as Speedy punched him in the arm. Taskmaster glared at Speedy and the other boy glared back.

"If you're not careful I might pull that stick out of my ass and beat you to death with it." Speedy threatened. Before the confrontation could escalate Kaldur decided to step in and resolve things.

"Let's all settle down, I believe we are all a bit overwhelmed by today's events, so let's just move along before the two of you create a scene." Kaldur stated calmly in an attempt to deflate the situation. Both Taskmaster and Speedy nodded their agreement and they continued walking to the Hall of Justice.

"Everyone's overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin asked as the group entered the Hall of Justice. They all stopped when they saw the giant statues of their mentors at the entrance. "Whoa…maybe that's why."

The doors to the hall opened up and Martian man hunter and Red Tornado walked out to greet the young heroes.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, and Taskmaster, I welcome you all the Hall of Justice." J'onn said, he turned and led them into the hall of Justice and began giving them a basic tour. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library."

"Make yourselves at home." Flash said while gesturing to the various chairs and sofas around the room. Robin, Taskmaster and Aqualad managed to get seats but Speedy was left standing.

"Guess you aren't so "speedy" after all are you?" Taskmaster joked; Speedy either didn't hear him or pretended not to. He simply stared intently at the Justice League members who were talking to each other on the other side of the room.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long." Batman said to the sidekicks. He turned around and the computer began certifying all the league members' identities. As the computer read off all their names in a robotic voice Speedy spoke up.

"That's it?" He said," You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a very important first step, you been granted access few others get." Aquaman responded in an attempt to calm the boy down. Speedy only got more agitated.

"Really?" He asked, gesturing to the large glass windows. Tourists were looking inside and taking pictures of all of them. "Who cares what side of the glass we're on?"

Green arrow stepped forward and tried to calm his partner. "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect." He said, turning around to his fellow sidekicks. "Their treating us like kids. We deserve better than this."

Robin, Taskmaster and Aqualad simply looked at each other in confusion. This wasn't an argument they wanted any part in and it showed. Each one simply shrugged and stayed silent, a response that simply angered Speedy.

"You're all kidding right?" Roy asked, "You playing their game? Today was supposed to be the day, step one to becoming full fledged members of the League!"

"Well…sure but I thought step one was a full tour of the HQ?" Taskmaster asked he couldn't see what Speedy was so upset about.

Finally understanding his fellow sidekick's reason for not being upset, Speedy decided to reveal the truth.

"Except the hall isn't the Leagues real HQ!" Speedy stated, he ignored the shocked looks of everyone in the room and continued. "It's just a false front for tourists. It's just a pit stop for catching Zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the real thing. An orbiting space station called the Watchtower!"

Green arrow turned to his fellow league members who were now all glaring at him. "Maybe we could make an exception?" Green arrow asked. Batman simply crossed his arms and intensified his glare. "Or…not."

Seeing that things were getting out of hand Aquaman decided to step forward. "You're not helping your cause here son. Stand down."

"Or what you'll send me to my room? I'm not your son, heck I'm not even his." Speedy said while gesturing to Green Arrow. "I thought I was his partner…not anymore." With that said Speedy threw his hat on the ground, shocking everyone in the room. He turned and began walking out of the room, as he walked out he looked at the other sidekicks. "I guess their right about you three. You're not ready."

The second Speedy left the main computer in the room activated. Superman appeared on the main monitor screen.

"_Superman to Justice League there's a been a explosion at project Cadmus. It's on fire."_

Batman narrowed his eyes. "I've had my suspensions about Cadmus for a long time; this may present the perfect opportunity to investigate."

Before anything else could be said another emergency message appeared on the monitor_. " Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Woton is using the amulet of Aten to block out the sun. Requesting a full League response."_

"_It's a small fire local authorities have it under control."_

"Then it's settled." Batman pushed a button on the main console and opened up a communications channel. "All League members are to rendezvous at Zataras coordinates. Batman out." Batman turned to the sidekicks. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Robin asked," We can help, you guys out."

"You're not trained." Batman answered.

"That's not true; we've been training for years. You of all people should know what we are capable of." Taskmaster said, while looking at Batman. The man's expression didn't change so Taskmaster turned to his uncle. Flash simply shook his head in response.

"Sorry Tasky, we aren't saying you're untrained. It's just that you aren't trained to work as part of this team." Flash said while gesturing towards the rest of the League. With that said the league members left the room to go help Zatara in his fight against Wotun. While the group of teenage heroes simply stared at the ground angrily holding back their anger.

"I can't believe them! They treat us like kids, like sidekicks!" Taskmaster yelled trying to vent some of his anger. He looked over and saw that his fellow heroes felt equally betrayed.

"My king…my mentor…I thought he trusted me." Aqualad said sadly, he couldn't understand how Aquaman could have lied to him all this time. The man hadn't even mentioned the watchtower or the fact that the Hall was a false headquarters.

"Well I've always said that you should never trust a dude who wears orange spandex." Taskmaster responded.

"It's not orange spandex, its scale mail armor of the highest quality. Orange is also a treasured and manly color in Atlantis, it signifies royalty and wisdom." Aqualad said, trying to defend his king's honor from being besmirched despite the fact that his king had just lied to him.

"Alright, I'll be sure to bow to Aquamans manliness next time I see him, I just wanted to lighten the mood a bit, since every single one of our mentors just lied to us and hid the fact that they have a secret clubhouse in space."

No one spoke for thirty seconds, simply thinking over the events that had just transpired. Until Kaldur finally broke the silence. "What is project Cadmus?"

"I don't know…but I can find out" Robin said mischievously. The young acrobat walked over to a nearby computer terminal and began hacking into the systems and running as many searches on Cadmus as he could. Both Aqualad and Taskmaster joined him and began reading all the files that came up.

"How are you doing that?" Taskmaster asked while watching Robin type away on the computers keyboard.

"Same system as the Batcave."

"No I meant how are you typing on that keyboard? It's a bunch of blank yellow keys, it's like those old episodes of Star Trek where the budget didn't allow them to get actual keyboards so they just used a bunch of blank squares."

"Skills." Was the only response they managed to get out of Robin as he happily hacked the system.

"There we go!" Robin proclaimed happily once the hack was complete. "Let's see…Cadmus is a genetics lab located here in DC…that's all the information, but if Batman's suspicious we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do…it would be poetic justice." Kaldurs face suddenly fell. "But they told us to stay put and not to interfere."

"For the blotting out the sun mission not this." Robin defended, trying to convince Kaldur.

"If you're going I'm going. " Taskmaster said, Robin nodded and they both looked at Kaldur in a attempt to pressure him to join. Kaldur knew it was a bad idea but he couldn't refuse after seeing both of his fellow sidekicks look at him with what he believed humans called "Puppy dog eyes" or puppy dog skull mask in Taskmaster case.

"Alright I'll go…so just like that we are a team on a mission?" He asked. Robin nodded "We didn't come here for a play date."

With that said all three of them left the Hall of Justice prepared to go on their first mission as a team.

OoOoO

_Washington DC, July 4, 14:30 EDT_

"Watch the hands Kaldur, only the ladies are allowed to touch me like that." Taskmaster warned, while he drove his hover bike. The Atlantean was riding on the same bike and was squeezing the smaller boy's waist out of fear of falling off.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit scared. I've never ridden on a bike like this." Aqualad said apologetically. He had ridden on many earth vehicles in his short time on the surface world but this…hovering bike was by far the oddest and scariest. Not to mention the fact that Taskmaster was driving it recklessly at speeds that were above the legal limit.

Robin was on his own motorcycle driving next to the other two. "What ladies are lining up to touch you anyway TM? Last time you were in Gotham you got rejected every time you tried to pick up a girl."

Taskmaster simply shrugged. "The ladies love me…they just don't know it yet."

After a few more minutes of riding they came upon the Cadmus building on fire. Taskmaster and Robin parked their bikes right outside the building and got to work.

The firefighters at the scene were amazed to see heroes arrive to help them. "Look its Robin and…Flash master!"

That made Taskmaster angry. "It's Taskmaster! Is that really so hard to remember?" He reached into his utility belt and grabbed his grappling gun, and Robin followed his example. Both of them shot their grappling guns onto the fire engines ladder and swung into the third floor window of the building and began to investigate. Leaving Aqualad to save two scientists who were stranded on the roof.

Aqualad used his Water bearers to take water from the fire hose and create a large water platform that he rode up to the roof where two scientists were trapped.

"Get on now!" He yelled trying to get them to ignore their fear. After several seconds of hesitation the scientists jumped on. Kaldur lowered them to the street, he then proceeded to use the water platform to take himself up to the buildings third floor and rejoin his allies.

In the building both Robin and Taskmaster were at working investigating. Robin was hacking into a computer while Taskmaster used his masks thermal vision to see if anyone else was in the building. He looked down an old hallway and saw a heat signature standing in the elevator, it appeared humanoid but his masks sensors indicated that it wasn't. Before he could yell for help or investigate the elevator door closed and the creature was gone.

"There was something in the elevator, and elevators should be locked down during a fire." Taskmaster said out loud, drawing the attention of Robin and Aqualad who just joined them. "I couldn't make out what it was with my thermal vision but…it wasn't human."

Robin walked up to the elevator and brought out his PDA. "This is wrong, this a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Taskmaster said, walking up to his friend. Aqualad went up to the elevator doors and used his strength to force them open. Looking down all three of them could tell that there were a lot more than three stories to this building.

"And that's why they need a express elevator" Robin said, voicing everyone's thoughts. He pulled out his grappling gun and shot it into the ceiling and rode the rope down the elevator shaft until he ran out of rope, Kaldur and Taskmaster followed him down until they were all stuck at the end of the rope. Looking around Robin saw that there was a small platform they could jump on and use to open the one of the doors on the side.

He jumped onto a platform and hacked the door, opening it up. Taskmaster and Kaldur followed him and soon they were all standing in a large metal hallway. All three of them began running down the hall until they saw something that made them stop dead in their tracks.

A large line of creatures were walking down one of the corridors just ahead of them. The beasts had pale skin and were at least twenty to thirty feet tall. The giant troll like creatures seemed to ignore the group and continued walking down the halls oblivious to their presence.

"Nothing odd going on here." Kaldur sarcastically stated while watching the trolls walk away. What the group didn't notice was the small creature riding on the giant creatures that telepathically contacted security.

They decided to shake off their surprise and walk a bit farther. The second they entered the next room they were confronted with something odd. The room itself was blue and had numerous tubes all around it. In each one of these tubes was a small creature that was producing electricity.

"This is how thye hide their bases secret location. They generate their own power, ensuring that the main facility isn't on the grid." Taskmaster stated while observing the creatures. He pulled out his wrist mounted PDA and began running analysis. "It appears that these things are genetically modified, unsure of what they were created from though. They could be a natural species that was mutated or artificial life form bred in a lab."

"Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new life form by sewing dragon's teeth into the earth." Kaldur explained.

While Taskmaster was running biological analysis on the creatures, Robin hacked into the computer systems. "These creatures are called genomorphs. The stats one these things are insane, super strength, telepathy, speed, and razor claws. These things are living weapons."

"Either their living weapons or the coolest Pokémon I've ever seen." Taskmaster said as he finished scanning the creatures. Robin continued reading the files he was hacking and came upon something.

"Project KR? Files triple encrypted, I can't get through."

"Stop right there!" A voice called out from the end of the hallway. A large man covered in armor was standing at the other end of the hall and he was flanked by Genomorphs. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized who the intruders were. "Robin, Aqualad, and Taskmaster? What are you kids doing here?"

"At least he got your name right TM." Robin said as he downloaded all the files he could.

Kaldur stepped forward when he realized who the man was. "I know you…Guardian…you're a hero."

"That's right, I'm also the chief of security here, and you're all trespassing. But that's okay we can call up the Justice League and sort this whole thing out." He said, hoping for a peaceful resolution.

"You think the Justice League is going to approve of you breeding living weapons?" Taskmaster asked, shocked that Guardian would try to play thing off like it was nothing.

"What weapons?" Guardian asked "What are yo-what am I?" The genomorph on his shoulder began to telepathically influence the man. Guardian's features suddenly turned angry. "Destroy the intruders! No Mercy!" The second those words left his lips he and all the genomorphs under his command charged.

Robin and Kaldur ran into the fray and began taking out the little ones. Kaldur was using his strength to beat them into submission while Robin was throwing batarangs and using his martial arts. While they were fighting Taskmaster and Guardian were preparing to engage each other in one-on-one combat.

"So you fight with a shield to?" Taskmaster asked while gesturing to the golden shield on Guardians arm. "Well so do I." He stated while activating his orange energy shield. Guardian charged at him but he brought up his shield and blocked every single one of the larger mans blows. After awhile it was obvious their fight was going nowhere. Whenever one of them struck out the other would just block it with his shield.

Guardian finally cornered Taskmaster and rammed the boy against the wall with his shield, using his superior muscle and height to keep the boy pinned. "Did you really think you could match my experience?" Guardian asked while applying more pressure to Taskmaster causing the teen to grunt in pain.

Taskmaster shrugged. "Nope, that's why I'm going to cheat." He used his right hand to reach into his utility belt and pulled out a butterfly knife he had strapped on. With a small flick of his wrist the blade was out and he used it to stab Guardian in the side, making sure that the stab didn't go deep and avoided major organs. The older man screamed and pulled back, allowing Taskmaster to punch him in the face, knocking the mind controlled hero unconscious.

Looking around he saw Kaldur and Robin beat the remaining genomorphs. But before they could celebrate their victory they heard loud stomping heading their way. "We have to get out of here; they have reinforcements on the way. Follow me." Kaldur ordered, both Taskmaster and Robin complied and they ran until they found another elevator. They got in and Robin hit the button that would bring them to the lowest floor.

"Why did you do that? We're trying to go up to the surface not down!" Taskmaster yelled, angry at his best friend's stupidity. The Boy Wonder simply shrugged.

"Project KR is on sublevel fifty-two, we have to investigate it."

"No, this has gotten way out of control. We have to inform the League of what's going on." Kaldur retorted. He brought his hand up to his earpiece but he heard only static. "Damn, communications are down…looks like we have to go forward."

The elevator let out a loud beep indicating that they reached the bottom of the floor. All three heroes prepared themselves for anything that might be waiting for them when the door opened. The elevator door opened and there was nothing there. They went out into the room and found the entire place to be alive, the walls, ceiling, and floor were all organic with bits of technology blended in.

Robin and Taskmaster began looking at the various pieces of technology around the room. Taskmaster touched the walls and felt it move, he could swear it felt like it had a heartbeat.

"Does anyone else think this room looks like that room from the movie "Aliens" where the marines find out that the reactor room has been turned into a hatchery where they trap humans against the wall with organic spit and use them to for incubating their eggs?" Taskmaster asked while observing the look of the walls.

"You're not exactly inspiring confidence here TM." Robin said "Now which way do you guys want to go, creepy hallway number one or creepy hallway number two?"

"Stop right there!"

Taskmaster, Robin, and Kaldur all looked over to where they heard the voice and saw a strange looking creature. Taskmaster recognized it as the one he saw in the elevator. The person looked like a mix between a genomorph and a human. He lifted several barrels telepathically and sent them careening toward the heroes.

They managed to dodge the barrels. Taskmaster activated his energy shield and threw it at the creature while Robin threw several exploding batarangs. The creature simply deflected them telepathically as if they were merely a annoyance and began throwing random objects at them. Seeing that there was no hope in fighting this thing in such a cramped space the heroes ran down the opposite hallway as fast as they could.

Taskmaster was the quickest runner and found himself ahead of the group. They continued running down the hallways of the underground lab, trying to outrun any pursuers that might be behind them. Taskmaster saw a large blast door up ahead and it was opening. A lone female scientist was walking out of it; she was too preoccupied with a clipboard to take any notice of the heroes running right at her. Taskmaster didn't want to deal with her if she decided to fight back so he simply shot a dart at her and it sunk into her neck, making her fall asleep instantly.

He ran through the door and turned around to see Kaldur and Robin were still far behind. He activated his energy shield and slammed it between the doors before they could shut. He held it open until both his teammates managed to make it safely through. He deactivated his shield and let the doors close right before the genomorphs that were chasing them could enter.

The second they were safe Robin hacked the door and disabled it so that it couldn't be opened. "We're safe." He said happily allowing himself to relax.

"We're trapped." Aqualad corrected.

"Ummm guys, you might want to have a look at this." Taskmaster said while looking at a large pod in the center of the room. The light suddenly turned on and they saw a dark haired teen lying in the pod apparently asleep.

"KR…the atomic symbol for krypton." Taskmaster said, he began checking over the pod.

"A clone? Hack it Robin." He ordered, Robin got to work right away, easily bypassing security and firewalls.

"Let's see." He said "Weapon designation is Superboy, a clone grown in…sixteen weeks with DNA acquired from superman! His solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation down here, and those creatures in his pod are force feeding him an education."

The three heroes looked at Superboy who was still oblivious to everything that was going on. Kaldur finally made a decision. "This is wrong…free him immediately."

Robin nodded and hacked the console, forcing the pod to open up. Superboy slowly began to awaken, his hands began moving and his eyes opened up. Everyone in the room was quiet and waiting for what the boy might do. They didn't have to wait long because the second Superboy laid eyes on Aqualad he leapt out of his pod and attacked the Atlantean.

Superboy pinned Aqualad to the group and began punching the Atlantean in the face repeatedly until Both Taskmaster and Robin grabbed both his arms. "Stop! We're trying to help you!" Robin pleaded, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Superboy grabbed the Boy Wonder and threw him into a wall knocking him unconscious.

While he was distracted with Robin, Aqualad kicked Superboy in the chest, effectively shoving the clone off of him. Taskmaster raised his right arm and shot as many darts as he could into the clone, filling him with neurotoxin.

Unfortunately the kryptonian simply got angrier and pulled all the darts out of himself, the toxin having no effect on him. He charged at Taskmaster but Kaldur leapt in the way in an attempt to stop the rampaging clone. Superboy simply reared his right fist back and punched Kaldur in the face, knocking the Atlantean unconscious.

Superboy turned his attention to Taskmaster, he charged at Taskmaster with the intent of knocking the teenager out. Taskmaster was ready for this and activated his energy shield; he blocked every single blow Superboy delivered. He continued blocking all of Superboy attacks but he knew he had to do something fast.

"Man dude you are enraged, I hope you aren't Roid raging, because I've heard that steroids do funny stuff to your genitals." Taskmaster said trying to distract the raging clone. It was obvious that it wasn't working; Superboy just kept attacking and Taskmaster knew his shield would shatter under the heavy assault.

Superboy finally smashed the shield and pinned Taskmaster to the ground. He smashed the boys face into the hard floor. Luckily Taskmasters mask was made out of titanium reinforced Kevlar that kept his skull from cracking, but he knew he had to do something fast. He tried to reach for anything on his utility belt that could help. He found a can of bear mace, an extremely strong spray meant to blind people. He reached for it and sprayed it into Superboys eyes.

The cloned reared his head back and grasped his eyes screaming in pain. Taskmaster took this opportunity to activate his energy shield and smash it into the clones face over and over again until Superboy was finally knocked unconscious.

Taskmaster was breathing heavily; he had never fought so hard in his life. He looked at the now empty can of mace and threw it aside. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his utility belt. These were special cuffs that Batman designed for cuffing super powered beings, and were guaranteed to hold Superman. He slapped a pair on Superboys hands and feet. He then went over to both Robin and Aqualad and dragged them to the center of the room to tend to their wounds. Luckily both of them were only uncurious and seemed to have made it through the fight with no serious injuries.

He pulled out two small syringes, each one holding a synthetic adrenaline. He stuck Robin and Kaldur in the arm with the needles and they woke up from their state of unconsciousness.

"Glad you guys are alive; I would have hated to drag your bodies out of this place." Taskmaster said sitting down on the ground trying to get some rest. He felt the back of his head and even with his mask on he winced at the pain. Superboy managed to leave a pretty nasty gash.

Aqualad and Robin were doing better and their injuries were less pronounced. Kaldurs Atlantean body could take much more punishment and Robin had only received a small bump on his head courtesy of the nearby testing pod. After a few minutes of rest they finally turned their attention to their new friend.

Superboy made a few groaning noises. He tried to stand up but found that his hands and feet were tied up, he tried breaking the restraints but no matter how much he struggled they held strong.

"Those were designed to be strong enough to hold Superman; I don't think you're going to have much luck breaking them." Taskmaster said, drawing Superboys attention. "Why did you attack me and my friends? We were trying to help you."

"I was telepathically told to attack you, I acted on instinct." Superboy said, surprising Taskmaster. "I was ordered to attack so I chose to do what I was commanded to do."

"You chose to obey? Does that mean you're not under control by the genomorphs?" Aqualad asked.

"They suggest things to me, but I can choose whether or not to obey their commands."

Taskmaster began to grow impatient with the evasive answers. "Look those doors are sealed, and you're tied up. We might as well talk. The genomorphs taught you things right?"

"The genomorphs taught me to read and write. I also know the names of things and have been fully tutored in human history." Superboy answered.

Robin nodded thoughtfully. "But have you actually seen the outside world, have you ever seen the sky, sun or moon?"

"Images have been implanted in my mind, but no I have never seen them."

"Do you even know who you are?" Taskmaster asked.

"I am the Superboy, a clone of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish, destroy him should he turn from the light."

That disturbed the group greatly, mainly how emotionless Superboy was when talking about killing Superman. But they decided that they wouldn't win points by calling the guy crazy.

"Wanting to be like Superman is a worthy goal. But you will never achieve it by staying down here." Aqualad said.

"Why not? Cadmus is my home; it's given me life and the knowledge to replace Superman!" He yelled angrily, he tried in vain to break his restraints but they continued to hold strong.

"It's not enough to know about Superman to be like him. You need to understand his drives and motivations, the things that make him who he is, that make him do what he does." Taskmaster retorted. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a chocolate bar and started to eat, hoping to regain the calories he lost from fighting all day.

"What would you know about it? You're just humans, he's a kryptonian." Superboy asked.

"Wrong, he was raised by human parents and grew up among us. It's his love and faith in humanity that makes him willing to fight for us…willing to die protecting this planet. He may have come from another world…but he will always belong to ours." Taskmaster answered in a soft voice. Over the last two years he had the honor of meeting Superman several times. He also read up on Clark Kent's history on the Batcomputer. "He is more human then kryptonian, if you ever want to be like him you have to live among us, live the way he did. That's something you'll never be able to do if you stay here."

Superboy stared at the floor thinking about what taskmaster just said. This lab was all he had know his entire life, the idea of leaving was…frightening. But now there was a group of heroes willing to take him away from it all, willing to help him. "If I help you escape this place…will you show me the surface world?"

Taskmaster nodded. "I'll show you everything, the sky, moon, sun, and the hot girls. Just stick with me Supey I'll show you all the good stuff."

"More like he's going to take you around Central City, get you in trouble, and chase all the girls away." Robin said laughing. He had seen Wally's pitiful attempts at hitting on girls and the disastrous results of his "fun" activities.

Aqualad shook his head at his friend's antics. He walked over to Taskmaster and grabbed the keys to Superboys handcuffs. He walked over to the clone. "If I unlock these will you give me your word that you will not attack us?"

Superboy looked up at the Atlantean and nodded. Trusting I his word Aqualad unlocked the handcuffs on the kryptonians feet and hands. Once he was free Superboy stood up and stretched his muscles. He remembered a human expression used to express respect; he grabbed Aqualads hand and shook it. "Thank you."

Seeing the interaction Robin grabbed the chocolate bar out of Taskmaster hand.

"Dude that's my last chocolate bar!"

Robin took a bite and threw the rest of the bar to Superboy. Not wanting to offend his new allies, Superboy bit into it and was amazed at the taste, up until now all he had eaten was nutrient paste. He quickly ate the rest of it much to the chagrin of Taskmaster.

"Why is it always my food that gets taken away and eaten?"

"Because you are such a kind and generous soul." Aqualad answered. "Also because we care about your health, you're going to get fat if you keep eating the way you do."

"I have a fast metabolism and powers. The brain uses up more energy than any other organ in the human body, my brain particularly." Taskmaster said, trying to defend his eating habits.

"I'm glad that we are all friends and can have a breather, but it's only a matter of time until they manage open up that door." Robin pointed to the large door that led to the labs. "Either they're going to undo my hack or get some of those big guys to muscle it open. We need a plan."

After a few minutes they devised a plan. They could already hear the sounds of G-trolls striking the door in a attempt to break in, with Superboy on their side they could risk a escape attempt. Superboy opened the door with his strength, while the rest of the team hid.

The head researcher at Cadmus and Guardian both walked in. Guardian was sporting a rather bad limp from his encounter with Taskmaster earlier.

"I assume the intruders have been dealt with?" Desmond asked, he was sure that his loyal clone soldier had disposed of the intruders. Superboys response was to punch the doctor in the face. Before Guardian could retaliate he was electrocuted by Aqualads sorcery and knocked unconscious. Without wasting a second the team began to run out of the research facility, Superboy easily plowed through any genomorphs that tried to stop them no matter their size.

He grabbed a large G troll by the leg and threw it into a large crowd of genomorphs while the others hacked a nearby elevator.

"Alright any second now." Robin said while hacking. "There I got it, let's get out of here!"

They entered the elevator and began their ascent back to the surface. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But before the elevator reached the top levels it was suddenly stopped.

"Damn I knew this was too good to be true." Robin said, he tried hacking the elevator again but it was no use. "Looks like they shut the elevators down manually, only way to the surface are the stairs."

Superboy nodded and ripped open elevator doors and they all began running through the facility looking for a stairway out of the area. The hallways were illuminated with a red light and it was hard to navigate the identical corridors. Superboy was leading the group, when he suddenly heard a voice guiding him.

"_Go left brother."_

"Everyone go left!" Superboy instructed, they all followed his lead. He took them down several corridors and allowed the mysterious voice to guide him. He eventually found a large stair case that would allow them to reach the surface.

"Good job Superboy, now let's run up." Taskmaster said enthusiastically. Before he could move he felt a strong arm encircle his waist, Superboy had grabbed him and he was now stuck in the boy's strong grip. "Whoa man hands off, do I look like Lois Lane?"

"I don't know who Louis is, but I have a better idea for getting up these stairs." Superboy said, he leapt up off the ground with Taskmaster, he intended to fly them out of there. Everything was going fine until he began to fall. "What? I…can't fly?" He asked, confused.

Taskmaster quickly reached into his belt and shot his grappling gun into the ceiling, and stopped them from falling. "Looks like you can't, but it looks like you can leap tall building in a single bound." He swung them over to one of the staircases. After a few seconds Robin and Kaldur reached them.

"I don't understand…Superman can fly, why can't I?"

"Could be a lack of direct yellow sunlight, or maybe you have to develop the ability naturally. It might even be a problem with your genetic structure. Irrelevant now, we have to keep running." Taskmaster said. Superboy nodded his agreement and began leading them through the facility. He continued following the voice that was instructing him, they were all about to go through another large door, but before they could the blast doors sealed. Superboy and Aqualad tried to break through it but it was no use.

"Crap, looks like we have to find another way." Taskmaster observed, they all turned around and were suddenly facing a large genomorph army that was running down the hall. They all prepared for a fight, the genomorphs closed in on them and surrounded the group. The humanoid genomorph from earlier and Guardian were at the head of the group.

All of the genomorphs horns glowed; they were using their telepathy to knock the group unconscious. Kaldur and Robin were knocked unconscious. But Superboy and Taskmaster managed to stay conscious. The leader of the genomorphs seemed perplexed and tried to knock Taskmaster unconscious again, the boy's response was to simply cross his arms.

"If you're trying to get into my head, it won't work. I'm one of the only heroes who has the common sense to wear a mask that covers my entire head. It's made of Kevlar, titanium and even a layer of lead, giving it a tinfoil hat effect. So your little telepathic tricks won't work here."

"It doesn't matter; I simply wanted to talk with Superboy without anyone interrupting. Your presence is irrelevant." He turned his head to Superboy and spoke telepathically. _"Greetings brother, my name is Dubbiliex. For the sake of all genomorphs, Superboy should make up his own mind"_

Superboys eyes widened in realization. "It was you."

"_That's right, I was the one who set the fire and lured your new friends to Cadmus, and guided you out of the facility during your escape."_

"Why?"

"_You are our hope, the genomorph human. You will blaze a trail for all of us. What is your choice brother?"_

Kaldur and Robin began to regain consciousness and stand up. Taskmaster had watched the entire conversation intently. He couldn't hear them telepathically communicate but he knew something important was occurring by simply watching their body language.

"_What is your choice brother?"_ Dubbiliex asked telepathically.

Superboy stared at Dubbiliex. "I choose…freedom."

"Dubbiliex nodded. He released Guardian from telepathic control. Guardian grabbed his head "I feel as if…a fog is lifting."

"You okay Guardian?" Taskmaster asked. Kaldur and Robin were now fully conscious and wondering what the hell was going on.

"Yes…I'm fine. Now go, I'll deal with Desmond." Guardian declared. He was finally free from mind control and could think clearly.

"I think not." A voice said behind them all. Everyone turned around and saw standing there holding a blue vial. "Project Blockbuster will give me th power to restore order to Project Cadmus." He poured the liquid down his throat and grabbed his chest in pain. He began having conclusions and soon his body was transforming. His eyes turned red, it was obvious he was going to turn into a monster.

Seeing all this Taskmaster looked around the room and saw that everyone was simply staring at the doctor's transformation. He reached onto his utility belt and grabbed the freeze gun he confiscated from Captain Cold earlier that day and shot a large blast of Ice at . The blast hit the doctor and froze him in a giant chunk of ice.

"Why did you do that?' Robin asked, everyone was staring at Taskmaster questioningly.

"How many times have we fought bad guys that ended up transforming into horrible monsters? It's much better to stop them before they finish their transformation so we don't have a unnecessary fight on our hands. This saves us time, the League can just come and thaw him out later and deal with him themselves." Taskmaster answered he was simply way too tired to continue fighting.

"I guess…that works." Kaldur said, while looking at the now frozen Desmond. However after a few seconds the Ice prison shattered. Desmond roared angrily and resumed his horrible transformation,.

"Nice plan TM." Robin said sarcastically while preparing for the fight that was coming.

"At least I tried; you were all just standing around playing with yourselves." Taskmaster retorted angrily.

Desmond finished his transformation; he was now a Blockbuster monster. Guardian charged the beast…and was immediately swatted aside like an insect.

"Wow Guardians sucks, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon would be ashamed." Taskmaster stated.

Superboy charged in and began to fight Blockbuster, but the tight hallways made it impossible for his teammates to help without getting hit in the crossfire. Eventually Blockbuster just grabbed Superboy by the leg and threw him through the ceiling. Blockbuster then leapt through the hole in the ceiling to follow his prey.

"I guess that's on way to get to the surface." Robin said as shot his grappling gun and followed Superboy and Blockbuster through the hole. Taskmaster followed the Boy Wonders example and shot his own grappling gun. "Do you think this was part of Desmonds plan?" Taskmaster asked Aqualad as he reeled himself up through the hole.

Kaldur shook his head. "I doubt he's planning anything anymore." He used his strength and leap up through the hole Blockbuster made.

All four heroes found themselves in the main lobby of the Cadmus building. Superboy and Blockbuster were still fighting. Blockbuster grabbed Superboy and threw him at the group, Kaldur managed to catch the kryptonian. With Superboy by their side the entire team lined themselves up, they finally had space to maneuver and fight.

Taskmaster ran forward, the rest of the team following behind him. He activated his shield and threw it at Blockbusters head, it hit the monster right in the nose but that only seemed to annoy it. Realizing his plan was useless Taskmaster threw a smoke pellet at the monsters head, blinding him. When the smoke cleared the only thing Blockbuster saw was Aqualad and Superboys fists hitting his face.

Blockbuster was staggered but he was far from defeated. He grabbed each of the boys by the throat and began to choke them. While he was doing that Taskmaster and Robin both threw as many exploding batarangs at him as they could. They had no effect, so Taskmaster unsheathed his katana and rammed the blade straight into Blockbusters leg.

The creature screamed and dropped Superboy and Kaldur, who both retaliated by delivering punches to Blockbusters stomach, hoping to knock the wind out of him. But no matter how much they punched him it didn't seem to work; Robin knew they needed a new plan if they were going to defeat him.

Looking around the room he noticed a fountain and the support beams that held the building up. He had a plan."Superboy, Aqualad! I have a plan come over here!" Robin yelled gesturing for them to come over.

"What about me?" Taskmaster asked, he was using his katana and shield to deflect Blockbusters blows.

"Keep him distracted!" Robin yelled, Superboy and Kaldur stopped fighting Blockbuster and quickly ran over to Robin once Taskmaster had managed to get the beasts attention,

"Sure…why the hell not? This guy only has a one thousand pound weight advantage!" Taskmaster dodged out of the way of one of Blockbusters punches. All he could do was distract the creature. _"I don't know what you're planning but it better be good."_

Not knowing anyway else to hold the beasts attention Taskmaster turned to the most deadly weapon in his arsenal. His mouth.

"Know any good jokes?" he asked Blockbuster, the creatures response e was to pick up a large chunk of debris and throw it as Taskmaster, which he skillfully dodged. "I'll take that as a no. Well here's a joke I once heard, a bomber runs into a pet store and shouts, "You all have 1 minute to get out before I blow this joint!" The turtle in the back goes "you bastard..."

Blockbuster simply got angrier and doubled his efforts to crush Taskmaster. **"I WILL EAT TALKING MAN!" **Blockbuster yelled angrily.

Taskmaster's eyes widened. He didn't even think the guy could talk anymore.

"You don't want to eat me! I irritate the bowel!"

"TM the plans ready, get him to follow you onto the water!"

Looking behind him he saw that there was a puddle of water, he ran over to it, Blockbuster in hot pursuit. Taskmaster leapt over the puddle to avoid slipping. The second Blockbuster walked over the water Superboy leapt down at him and punched him in the head. He fell face first into the puddle. Kaldur ran over to the puddle and used his magic to electrocute the monster. After several seconds of electrocution blockbuster was weakened.

"That was your plan?" Taskmaster asked. "That's not going to be enough to keep him down."

"That's just phase one, you might want to prepare yourself for this.' Robin said as he pushed several buttons on his holographic PDA. Suddenly ever support column in the building exploded and the ceiling started to fall.

"Umm how are we going to survive this?" Taskmaster asked, but he was suddenly pushed to the floor by Superboy and Aqualad who covered both him and Robin with their bodies. The building collapsed and Superboy and Aqualad managed to keep both Taskmaster and Robin safe from the collapsing debris. Once the dust settled Superboy lifted all the rocks that had fallen on them off.

He looked around and saw that the building was completely gone.

"We…did it." Aqualad said, not believing what he was seeing. They had actually managed to survive.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin asked, he looked over at his Taskmaster and they high-fived, and immediately regretted it since their arms were in horrible pain.

Superboy walked over to the trapped form of Blockbuster. He was still trapped under the buildings debris. He looked at Superboy with dim red eyes before finally succumbing to his injuries and passing out.

"Look into the sky Supey, there's the moon like we promised you." Taskmaster said pointing his finger into the sky. Superboy looked at the glowing sphere and felt a sudden breeze sweep over his face. He was no longer a prisoner in a underground facility…he was free. His eyes widened when he suddenly saw the form of Superman appear, he was descending from the sky.

Superman was joined by the rest of the Justice League who surrounded the area. Every single member was there and they were all staring at the four boys who had managed to cause so much destruction.

Taskmaster put a hand on Superboys shoulder. "And you get to meet Superman; we are just awesome at keeping promises."

Nothing was said for a long time, Superboy simply stared at Superman and vice versa. Superboy grabbed his torn solar suit and showed Superman the S logo. Superman's eyes widened in shock unsure of what he was seeing.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked walking up to the group. He didn't look happy.

"He doesn't like being called an It" Robin said, stepping forward.

"Im Superman's clone!" Superboy said not wanting to hide the truth. Everyone in the Justice League looked at each other confused. Batman's eyes simply narrowed.

"Start talking."

OoOoO

After a very long explanation of what happened in the facility, the Justice League took Blockbuster away to be locked up. They then gathered together as a group to discuss what had happened. The Team meanwhile was huddled around a bunch of debris resting their aching bodies.

Superman, Batman, Aquaman and the Flash walked over the group of teens. Superman looked at Superboy; it was obvious the man felt awkward talking to him.

We'll figure something out for you." He said to Superboy. "The League will I mean…for now I best make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." With that said he flew off, leaving a dejected Superboy behind.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty two levels. But let's make one thing clear…" Batman started but he was interrupted by the Flash.

"You should have called!"

Batman glared at Barry who immediately shut up. "End results aside we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

The teens all looked at each other and shook their heads. Aqualad stepped up to speak for the group. 'I am sorry but we will."

Aquaman stepped forward. "Aqualad, stand down." He ordered in a stern voice.

"Apologies my king…but no. We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do, on our own we forged something powerful. Important."

"If this is about your treatment at the hall the three of you-" Flash began but he was cut off by his nephew. "The four of us." Taskmaster corrected, putting a hand on Superboys shoulder. "And it's not about that."

"Batman we are ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all." Robin questioned. Batman's eyes soften slightly.

"Fine, but if you're going to work as a team you'll do it on league terms. I'll need three days to make the necessary preparations; you all should head home and rest." Batman said, he turned to Superboy. "We'll need to find a home for you in the meantime."

"He can stay with me." Taskmaster spoke up, shocking everyone there. "I promised him I would show him around, and we have plenty of room…right Flash?"

Flash rubbed the back of his head. "I don't have a problem with it, unless Batman has a objection."

Batman wasn't sure if he wanted the clone to know Taskmasters identity. The main reason Wally wore his mask all the time was because Batman demanded he keep it on to avoid his identity being compromised. After the fiasco with Penguin in Gotham city he didn't want Wally put in harm's way.

"I have nothing against it, but be cautious." With that said the Dark Knight left. Flash turned to his Nephew. "I'll be home later, got lots of work to do. I'll see you…and Superboy later." With that Said Flash sped off into the distance.

Aquaman left with Aqualad and Robin followed his mentor back to Gotham city leaving behind only Taskmaster, Superboy and the few League members who were left behind to clean up the facility and investigate it. Superboy turned to Taskmaster.

"Thanks…for letting me stay with you. I was worried that the league might put me in another lab."

Taskmaster slapped Superboy on the back. "No problem dude, It's going to be awesome. I'm going to give you the best tour of Central City, show you the best pizza places, and you can be my wingman when we pick up girls." Taskmaster said happily. "I'm gonna teach you how to live. Think of me as Yoda, only instead of being little and green, I wear a mask and I'm awesome."

"Umm thanks?"Superboy answered unsure of What Taskmaster was talking about.

Taskmaster grabbed a remote from his utility belt and hit several buttons. After a few seconds his hover bike came over and stopped next to the two of them. "Hop on; it's a long ride back to Central." Both of them got on the bike and started driving to Central City.

"I sense this is the beginning to an awesome friendship. With both you and Robin as my wing-men Ill have a girlfriend by the end of the year."

OoOoO

**Important author's note- Please read.**

Sorry about this chapter. It's basically a rewrite of a episode which is a little lame. I also didn't have much room to change things since everything that happened in the episode had to happen the way it did or the team wouldn't have formed.

I kind of wanted to skip this entire thing but it's so important to the show that I couldn't bring myself to. Also the second half I felt was sloppy. I was not as descriptive with things just because we already know what they look like from the show. So please forgive me for that.

And to all of you commenting on it, yes Wally Fights like Captain America, his job in the team will be versatility. He can carry more equipment then Robin and use different weapons. I have a few upgrades panned for him; example is the Freeze gun he got from Captain Cold.

I would like to thank my reviewers Irenerb, Blackpantherwolf, Kiacoral,cary99, blackirishawk, Dextra2, mazeygrace18, sumbunnyluvsu77, My own mayday parade, Hybrid301, Ladydragonfly123. You are all the best.

**Please review! I'm a little sad that my last chapter didn't get much feedback since I need criticism for that one..**

**Also I really need a Beta reader. I keep getting rejected by people.**


	6. A Day at the Mall

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice, If I did the show would probably suck and Cartoon network would be forced to declare bankruptcy.**

OoOoO

_July 6, 16:45:16 CDT_

The annoying buzz of a sleeper's worst foe was ringing loudly in his ears. With a frustrated growl, Wally tired his best to crawl deeper inside of his stiff pillow. As his groggy mind unwillingly returned to the land of the living, he lashed out at the horrible noise.

Any relief he may have felt at striking the object was squashed when it fell from his nightstand and clattered loudly on the floor. He opened his eyes and got up to start his daily ritual. First he made his bed which was pretty much the only thing he cleaned.

The room itself was a testament to Wally's messy nature. It was littered with comics, games, books, and clothes all littered the floor. His walls were also lined with numerous awards from school all of them from various subjects such as science, math, chemistry, and physics.

Wally walked over to his full length body mirror that sat in the corner of his cluttered room and looked at his face. It was rare that he ever saw his own face anymore, when he wasn't in school he was usually fighting crime, this meant he rarely had his face exposed when in public.

Ever since that night where he defeated the Penguin he never showed his face to anyone unless he absolutely had to. Batman warned him that since he had made an enemy out of the Penguin, one of Gotham's most dangerous villains he could never allow his identity to be compromised. Penguin was offering a million dollar bounty on anyone who could bring in Taskmaster or any information on his identity. As a result every villain and criminal wanted to catch a look under his mask to collect the bounty.

That's why he almost never told anyone, even other heroes his identity. Even Kaldur and Speedy didn't know who he really was, he hated not being more open with them but he couldn't risk his family's safety. Sometimes he even found himself sleeping with his mask on; it had simply become a part of who he was. He looked over to the aforementioned mask that was sitting on his dresser with the rest of his costume. It had become a huge part of his identity and it was odd not wearing it.

He shook those thoughts from his head and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was extremely messy and red and his skin was paler then it should be, most likely due to the long amounts of time he spent in his costume with his entire body covered up. The only bright side to all this was that his training and crime fighting left him with a body that was extremely fit and muscular.

He rubbed his hand over the back of his head and winced slightly. The large bruise on the back of his head was mostly healed but the pain was still present. The bruise was the only injury from the Cadmus mission that lingered, a result of Superboy slamming his head into the ground. Wally was just glad his mask absorbed the brunt of the force; if he had been knocked out he shuddered to think of what might have happened to them.

Wally shook those dark thoughts from his head and moved on to training. He went through all the forms and moves of his fighting style and watched his form intently in the mirror, making sure they were flawless. After ten minutes he was satisfied with his abilities and moved on to his next task.

"Wait…If I watch myself in the mirror when I'm practicing does that mean I'm copying myself?" Wally asked himself. After a minute of thinking about it his head started to hurt so he moved on with his day. He walked over to his closet and opened up the door.

"Wake up, we have to meet Robin at the mall and see about getting you some new threads." Wally said addressing Superboy who was sleeping upright in his closet. The clone opened his eyes and walked out of the closet, allowing Wally to grab some clothes.

"I still don't understand you Supes, you turn down sleeping in a bed and instead sleep in a closet." Wally said "Do you have something against beds?"

"Your closet reminds me of my pod; it makes me feel safe and secure. Besides your beds way to soft for me to get comfortable, sleeping horizontally is weird." Superboy responded while stretching out his muscles. He was still wearing the same solar suit he wore when Wally, Kaldur, and Robin rescued him from Cadmus. Wally had sewn it up making it look good as new when he first came over. The only problem was that the mission to Cadmus occurred two days ago and Superboys suit was starting to smell.

"Dude, go hop in the shower and give me that suit, I have to clean it and fix it up before taking you to the mall." Wally said while pushing Superboy towards the bathroom. The other boy nodded and went into the shower, leaving his solar suit outside the door. Wally retrieved it and walked over to the laundry room.

Wally threw the solar suit in the washing machine and shook his head. He still couldn't believe he invited Superboy over to his house. The clone was extremely dangerous and Wally didn't like revealing his identity to someone he had just met. But he couldn't help himself from taking the clone in when he saw how dejected and sad Superboy looked when Superman left, it brought back old memories he hoped to leave buried about his own parents.

So against his better judgment he now found himself teaching Superboy about average human life. After waiting awhile the washing machine went off and he pulled the now clean solar suit out of it and threw it into the drier.

He walked over to the kitchen and began sorting through the mail his uncle left on the table. He opened up a envelope marked for him and found it had a credit card in it. Wally looked at the letter that came with it.

"_For any expenses you might face while taking care of your new friend." _Was all it said, but Wally knew who it was from since it had a symbol of a bat in the corner of it.

"Real subtle Bruce." Wally said out loud, he was still grateful for the card since he didn't have much money to buy Superboy clothes. He looked through the rest of the mail until eventually Superboy walked into the room wearing his now dry solar suit that he retrieved out of the drier.

"So where is this place we are going again? Superboy asked while taking a seat at the dining room table.

"It's called a mall, it's basically the main place where people like us hang out and socialize." Wally answered while he finished sorting through the rest of the mail. He pocketed some money Barry and Iris left for him and threw away all the useless junk mail.

"Sounds...fun." Superboy answered." Are your guardians going to take us there?"

"Barry is off on League business and Iris is covering a war in some far away country." Wally answered sadly, ever since his Aunt had become a field reporter he saw less and less of her. The situation was worse with his own Uncle since the man was off on League business constantly since he had little need to be in Central City since Wally was capable of keeping the streets crime free by himself.

"Here I thought me becoming a crime fighter would bring us closer, but it's only made us drift apart." He though sadly to himself. It had been a week since the two of them had even been home at the same time. It seemed as if becoming Taskmaster had isolated him from his own guardians. Wally shook those thoughts from his head and realized he had been zoning out and that Superboy was staring at him.

"Don't sweat it Supes, we can just take my bike." Wally answered quickly not wanting Superboy to think anything was wrong.

"We are taking the hover bike?" The clone asked.

Wally shook his head. "No I have a normal bike in the garage. The hover bike is fine for Taskmaster but I'm going to be Wally West and you're going to be..." Wally suddenly realized up until now he had been calling Superboy...Superboy. A fine name but hardly something you say in public. "It doesn't matter who you are, main thing is that I can buy you clothes. We can work out that whole identity thing later."

Realizing it wouldn't do to have Superboy walking around the mall in a solar suit Wally walked into his uncle's room and grabbed a pair of plain jeans and an old leather jacket. He walked back to the dining room and handed the clothing items to Superboy. "Wear those until we get to the mall; just wear them over your solar suit in case you have to change for a fight."

"Do you wear you hero clothes under your normal ones as well?" Superboy asked while putting the jacket and jeans over his solar suit. It was a bit tight and warm but comfortable enough to move in freely.

"I just wear specialized clothes when I go out." Wally said while gesturing to his current attire. He was wearing a red jacket, combat pants and boots. Underneath the jacket was some light combat armor. "All these clothes have a thin layer of Kevlar. All I have to do is pull out my mask and I'm ready to fight crime."

Superboy accepted this answer. So once Wally was done getting ready they both went outside and walked over to the garage where Wally unveiled their transportation. Sitting in the garage was a red moped.

"So where's the bike?" Superboy asked while scanning the garage with his eyes.

"Dude its right in front of you." Wally answered while hooping on the small red bike. He gestured for Superboy to hop on and the clone shook his head.

"There's no way I'm hopping on that tiny little thing." Superboy stated, while he didn't care about what people thought of him he did have some standards.

"Look Superboy this is the only way we are getting to the mall. So you can either hop on or I will buy you clothes by myself, and if that ends up happening you're going to be walking around dressed like a clown." Wally said with finality. He didn't understand why people hated the moped, sure it was small but it got great mileage.

Realizing that arguing was pointless Superboy swallowed his pride and hopped on the moped right behind Wally. Wally revved up the moped and they drove off into the streets of Central City towards the mall.

OoOoO

_July 6,17:00:19 CDT_

After a long uncomfortable ride on a Wally's moped they finally got to to the mall. The ride was only fifteen minutes but to Superboy it was a eternity. The slow pace all just reminded him that he could run and leap faster than this. But the worst part was Wally's tendency to never shut up. But after the terrible journey they finally arrived.

Superboy had many expectations about the mall. In his pod he learned that a mall was one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area. From What Wally was saying they were the heart of human society where people socialized.

All he felt was a headache while looking at Central City's mall. It was horribly colored with a large emphasis on orange and red, and it was filled with people. There was little space to yourself, you couldn't avoid bumping into people and it was always loud. Wally thought it was paradise

"I told you I would introduce you to human society." Wally said while leading Superboy to a clothing store. The store was called '_Forever Sixteen Suburban Outfitters'_. He led Superboy in and began selecting clothes for the clone to try on.

Superboy was happy he came along because all of the things Wally chose for him to wear were bright. _I really would have been dressed like a clown if I hadn't come along." _He thought to himself.

After an hour of not liking anything he finally found something he liked. Wally brought him a shirt with the Superman logo on it. It was perfect. After wearing a pure white solar suit black was perfect. When he lived in Cadmus everything was bright and white. He found the dark black color of the shirt nice. He ended up buying thirty of them along with matching pants.

After the shopping spree they sat down at the malls food court to wait for Robin to join them. It would have been a relaxing experience if it wasn't for Wally's constant talking.

"Dude I wish you would have chosen something else to wear." Wally said while pointing at Superboy's state of dress. He was wearing one of the black Superman shirts he had just bought.

Superboy remained silent and continued watching people walk by. Humans were so weird; he couldn't even begin to grasp their strange culture. He listened as Wally explained all the various types of people there were. Jocks, Goths, hippies, hipsters, nerds, and jerks were among the types of people he named.

After relaxing in the food court they were joined by the person they were waiting for. A young boy wearing dark glasses, it was Robin wearing his civilian clothes. "Hope I didn't keep you all waiting, I was trying to figure out what Batman's been up to. Ever since that mission to Cadmus he's been leaving the cave for long periods of time and acting more evasive than usual." Robin said while taking a seat at their table.

"Nah dude, we just went shopping for clothes. Also check these out." Wally said while opening up one of his shopping bags. He brought out a small plushy, It was a little blue person with a katana and skull mask. It was a Taskmaster plushy. "Isn't it adorable?" Wally asked while playing with it.

"Who the hell wants a Taskmaster plushy?" Robin asked while snatching it out of Wally's hands. He looked at it closely and it did resemble Wally's costume.

"All the chicks in Central City love Taskmaster. I have clothes, posters, and now a plushy modeled after me." Wally said happily. "There's also an action figure of me coming out next month that has real kung fu grip."

Robin shook his head; he couldn't help but laugh at his friend's positive attitude. He looked over and saw Superboy sitting silently at the table watching people who walked by. Not wanting to ignore the boy Robin decided to talk to him. "So how have things been going Superboy? Has Wally been showing you around Central City?"

The clone shrugged. "This is the first time I've been out of his house in two days. We were mostly just watching television."

"Dude you were supposed to show him the outside world. You weren't supposed to rot his brains out with television!" Robin said angrily. He should have known better then to trust Wally with anything.

"Television is a key aspect of human life! I was simply exposing Superboy to what most of us do in our downtime. Besides I was trying to rest after that head injury I got in Cadmus." Wally responded defensively. "Besides that's why the three of us are out here today."

"Why are we out here today? We already got clothes and this place is slowly giving me a headache." Superboy said while looking around the mall. The colors and people were making him feel uncomfortable; it made him wish he was back in Wally's closet sleeping.

"As I've said before we are out here today to teach you a few basics about human life." Wally said. "So open your brain-tank bro 'cause here comes some premium 91 octane knowledge!"

Wally cleared his throat and began his lecture. "You should always invest in real estate. There's no such thing as a permanent record. Always eat breakfast. All the girls on the internet are actually dudes. And you should never buy the extended warranty on anything. Also, chicks like it when you tell them they're pretty, but they also like it when you're kind of a jerk to them. So mix it up a little."

Superboy was listening with rapt attention to everything Wally said while Robin was trying to hold back a headache. Wally was his best friend but the guy was a living, breathing, bad example.

"Superboy, don't listen to anything he says. Especially his advice about girls, Wally hasn't ever had a girlfriend and most likely never will since he freezes up every time he talks to a girl." Robin said ignoring his friend's death glare.

"Dude I can totally talk to girls, I got at least fifty phone numbers last week alone!" Wally said, "Besides it not like you do much better, your still a kid."

"Taskmaster gets tons of phone numbers from his fans. Wally West on the other hand is a nerd who can't talk to a girl without stuttering." Robin stated factually. It was true, Wally could easily hit on girls when he was Taskmaster but when he was normal Wally West he lost all confidence in himself. He couldn't even finish a complete sentence without stuttering or saying something horribly inappropriate.

"I bet you twenty bucks that I can charm any girl in the world. Just point to one of them in the mall and I'll get her phone number. Just make sure she's around my age, single, and an actual girl this time. I still haven't forgiven you for last time."Wally finished while looking at Robin.

"That was a minor mistake, now shut up and let me find someone." Robin said as he looked around the mall. He saw numerous girls but most of them were adults or had boyfriends. He wanted to find the most intimidating and unapproachable girl.

After a minute of fruitless searching he found her. He saw a girl with very short blonde hair, excessive makeup, including purple lipstick, and has multiple earrings, one of which is a safety pin. She was wearing a white top and a black plaid skirt, held up by red suspenders, boots and torn stockings, and fingerless gloves that reached her elbows. She appeared to be Wally's age and she was pretty muscular. She would destroy Wally…it was too perfect.

"You have to get her phone number." Robin said pointing at the girl. Wally looked over and immediately wanted to chuck himself off the nearest building.

"Dude…I don't think I'm her type..." Wally said h was inwardly sweating. This seemed like the type of girl who would kick him in the balls if he tried a pick up line.

"You said you could pick up any girl no matter the circumstances. She's around your age, she's alone in the mall so she's most likely not in a relationship, and I'm pretty sure she's not a man. If you don't want to do it you could just hand over the twenty bucks." Robin said extending his open hand.

No matter how scared Wally was he could never turn down a challenge.

"Challenge accepted."

With that said he stood up from the table and walked over to the girl. She was at the end of the food court at a soft pretzel stand. Wally put on his best lady-killer smile and tried to get her attention. _"Okay Wally just start with normal conversation, tell her she's pretty and ask her how the weather is."_ Wally thought to himself as he stood right next to her.

The girl noticed Wally's presence and turned to him. Wally began to get nervous and tried to introduce himself.

"Hey there, I'm…you…pretty…How are weather?" Wally managed to stammer out. Back at the table Superboy covered his eyes, unable to watch Wally's blundering. Robin had to slap his hand over his mouth trying to suppress his laughter.

"What?" The girl asked confusion etched on her face.

Wally wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He used his enhanced thinking powers but came up with nothing, so he went with a tactical retreat."I'm sorry…. I'll just leave you alone forever now."

Before he could walk away the girl caught his arm and turned him around. "Wait…are you trying to hit on me?" She asked in a curious tone.

"Well…yeah, I'm sorry for bothering you. I…just get nervous when I talk to…pretty girls." Wally stammered, trying to make light of the situation. He thought the blond would be angry about being hit on but she actually smiled and gestured for him to sit next to her.

"You're not very good at flirting." She stated while Wally took a seat across from across from her. He smiled nervously and tried to calm his nerves. He tried to act confident like he did when he was Taskmaster.

"I don't need to flirt; I'll just charm you with my awkwardness." Wally joked, he was finally able to get his stammering under control and felt his confidence rising.

"It takes a lot more than a little bit of awkwardness to charm me." She said. "Truth is I'm stuck here waiting for someone so your charmingly awkward company is appreciated. My names Tuppence by the way."

"That's a really nice name." Wally said honestly," My names Wallace, but you can call me Wally."

After their introductions the two of them fell into a comfortable conversation. Despite her appearance and choice of dress Tuppence was actually very warm and approachable. Usually Wally would have to force himself to focus on what girls were saying whenever he talked to them since they rarely had the same interests, but that wasn't the case here. Tuppence was an excellent conversationalist and they talked about everything from the weather to personal philosophies about life.

The thing that surprised him most of all was that she found his random facts interesting. Most girls and even his friends found his photographic memory and encyclopedia-like knowledge boring but Tuppence found his knowledge enjoyable. So now he found himself talking about random things that popped into his head.

"So the truth is that Napoleon wasn't short. Napoleons official height was indeed five foot two inches, but at the time French inches were longer than English inches. So after doing the unit conversion we can see he was around five foot seven English inches, which is short by today's standards but was average back then. England simply spread propaganda about Napoleon being short since they weren't his number one fan." Wally explained while relaxing in his seat. Tuppence was simply sitting down and listening to him with rapt attention.

"Wow, I didn't know about that. You should go on a trivia television show and win some money." she said, impressed with Wally's knowledge. "You could easily win on that millionaire show or jeopardy."

"Maybe I should." Wally responded, he looked at his watch and realized they'd been talking for an hour. "Wow we've been talking for almost an hour. I'm sorry if I've kept you from any obligations."

Tuppence shook her head. "Nah, I'm just here with my brother. We wanted to hang out in a big city, since the two of us are from the south and rarely get to see places like this." She said while gesturing to the mall.

"Is you brother by any chance your twin? Does he also have big muscles, light blond hair and an outfit that matches yours?"

"Yes he does. How did you know all that?"

"Because he's walking over here and he looks rather angry." Wally said while mentally preparing himself for the fight he felt coming. Tuppence's brother walked up to their table, all while giving Wally his strongest death glare.

The brother addressed Tuppence "Where have you been? We were supposed to go…shopping at the jewelry store, and who the hell is this?" He asked gesturing towards Wally.

Tuppence focused her own death glare on her brother and answered. "He's a friend who's been keeping me company while you gallivant around the mall. Not that it's any of your business _Tommy._"

Tommy eyes narrowed angrily and he slammed one of his hands down onto the table, leaving a small dent in it. "It is my business since Ma and Pa told me ta look after you, and they said that you aren't allowed ta date boys yet." He finished while turning his gaze onto Wally who retaliated with his own glare.

"We aren't on a date; we were just having a good conversation. Besides you can't dictate what's right and wrong to me." Tuppence said, trying to get her brother to back off. "And if you want to bring Ma and Pa into this maybe I should tell them about all those whores you drag home whenever they aren't around."

"You're my little sister I'm supposed to look out for you and make sure some creep doesn't take advantage of you." Tommy said, he directed that last part at Wally. Wally was about to defend his honor but Tuppence beat him to it.

"You're only older than me by two minutes." Tuppence said. "Also Wally isn't a creep, he's a gentleman, and unlike you he actually treats me with respect."

Tommy ignored her and turned to Wally. "Listen I'm only going to warn you once. Stay the hell away from my sister." He said angrily, not wanting to continue fighting with his sister he turned around and stalked away.

"I feel like I should have said something clever…" Wally said, he found himself tongue-tied throughout that entire exchange. He didn't want to get involved in another families business, and from what he saw Tuppence didn't need defending.

"Saying anything clever to my brother would be wasteful. As much as I hate him he is right, we do have to do some…shopping at a nearby jewelry store." Tuppence grabbed a pen out of her pocket and a piece of paper out of her purse that was lying on the table. She scribbled something down and handed it to Wally who had a confused expression etched on his face.

Seeing his confusion Tuppence decided to explain. "It's my phone number, I know it's sudden but you're a cool guy and I was hoping we could talk or hangout sometime...maybe we could be friends?"

Wally got over his shock quickly and answered. "That would be great, when do you want me to call you?"

"Ummm…my family is going to be moving around a lot for the next few months. So I won't be around here again until September. But if you want to talk you can call me whenever, I get kind of bored talking to my idiot brother all the time."

Wally laughed a bit at that. The guy didn't seem like a very good conversationalist. "Alright cool, I guess I'll see you around then." They said their goodbyes to one another and Tuppence walked off in the direction her brother left.

Wally looked at the piece of paper in his hands and was barely able to contain his excitement. He walked over to the table where Superboy and Robin were still sitting and slammed the paper on the table proudly.

"In your face Bird boy!" Wally proclaimed proudly. "I got her number and won the bet, now hand over the twenty dollars." Wally extended his hand outwards towards Robin who simply crossed his arms smugly.

"Good job Wally."Robin said sarcastically. "You managed to get a girls phone number after a hour of talking, while I managed to get four of them." Robin held out his hand and in it were several pieces of paper all with phone numbers on them. Wally grabbed them and checked them out, they were indeed phone numbers.

"And I got seven phone numbers from girls and one from a weird guy." Superboy said throwing down a bunch of slips of paper on the table. Wally was jealous but he refused to show it.

"Doesn't matter, the bet was if I could get a number, so in the end I win the twenty dollars, it wasn't a contest." Stated Wally stubbornly. "Besides the one number I got beats all of the ones you guys got in quality."

Yeah, a girl who has more piercings then a African Witchdoctor is "quality" the same way a fast-food burger is quality eating." Robin responded.

Wally crossed his arms and glared at his best friend. "Dude, you can't judge a book by its cover, after talking to her I can easily tell that she's a great girl."

"You're not exactly the best judge on character Wally; remember when you trusted she-who-shall-not-be-named?"

Wally's usually calm expression turned angry and his usual bright green eyes seemed to darken for a second. He managed to calm himself down almost instantly but both Superboy and Robin noticed the flash of anger.

"Well that was a mistake and I'm trying to move past that." Wally stated in a neutral tone. "Besides why should the past dictate my future? I've got great friends, and the number of an awesome girl who I'm going to call tonight."

Wally appeared to have cheered up and the atmosphere at the table was once again fun and relaxing. The three boys began discussing their plans for the rest of the day.

"No way Rob, we are totally going to go do some laser tag. With Superboy we finally have the third member to our team; we will kick so many asses!" Wally stated happi8ly. Robin simply shook his head.

"Dude we are here to teach Superboy about our history and culture, not rot his brains with television and laser tag." Robin rebutted.

"Television and Laser tag are vital parts of human culture!"

"Yeah the bad ones, you're a living bad example."

"If by "bad" you mean sexy then…yes I am a sexy example."

Superboy watched the two teens argue. After a few minutes the argument showed no sign of stopping so Superboy decided to step in and end the madness.

"I would like to go see Metropolis." Superboy interjected, ending the violent verbal exchange between Robin and Wally.

Wally scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Metropolis? That's a long way off Supes, isn't there anything else you'd like to see in Central City?"

"Well all I've seen so far is a colorful mall filled with strange people. Besides there's someone in Metropolis I would like to see again…" Superboy trailed off and had a distant look on his face. Both Wally and Robin knew who he was referring to.

"Look…you've gotta give Superman time. I know he kind of…freaked out when he saw you but can you blame him for being a little freaked out?" Wally asked. "I mean it's not every day that a guy wakes up and discovers a top secret facility illegally cloned him. He just needs a little time to adjust to the idea of having a son."

"Maybe your right…" Superboy said but the clone still seemed unconvinced. They didn't get a chance to reassure him because the group heard a large crash and the sound of glass breaking. It wasn't long until they saw large groups of people fleeing in terror and the malls intercom system come online.

"_Attention shoppers, there is a robbery in progress at Gemini Gems Jewelry store. We ask that you evacuate in an orderly fashion."_

"Looks like their playing our song boys. Suit up!"

The three teens ran into the food courts bathroom which was thankfully empty. They hid their shopping bags in a stall and got into their hero outfits. Wally put on his mask and threw off his red jacket, revealing the body armor that was hidden underneath, Superboy took off his jacket and pants revealing his white solar suit, and Robin slipped on his costume and utility belt.

"How are you set up on weapons TM?" Robin asked Wally as the boy adjusted his armor.

"Not so good, I have my utility belt, and my shield. I couldn't sneak a katana in the mall. How are you set up?"

"I have all my gadgets with me. We have to get going; you think it's a typical heist going on?" Robin asked as he slipped on the last part of his costume.

"Dude, if there's one thing I've learned from this job; it's that nothing is ever typical.A few weeks ago I had to fight a talking Gorilla with telepathic powers...long story." Wally answered. "How are you doing Supes? You're being quiet, figured you would be excited since this is going to be your first crime fighting experience."

Superboy threw his old clothes to the side and let a small smile adorn his face. "I'm ready for it; this is going to be…fun."

The three heroes now fully dressed for crime fighting ran out of the bathroom and into the food court. They followed the sounds of screams through the mall, passing by numerous stores with people hiding and runningfor the malls exits. They soon found the source of the disturbance. It was in the main kiosk area on the ground level of the mall, the place was filled with food carts and numerous clothing stores.

There were two people in front of Gemini Gems shoving jewelry into large sack. One was a boy and the other a girl and both were in their teens. The shocking part was that Robin, Superboy and Wally recognized who they were. It was Tommy and Tuppence, both were wearing red bandanas to hide their identity but their outfits and hair made them easily recognizable.

"What was it you said earlier TM? Something about Tuppence being an awesome girl of quality?" Robin asked "You still going to call her tonight?"

Taskmaster shook his head angrily; they had gotten along so well when they talked. She seemed perfectly normal and nice. "Shut up. Why the hell are all the nice ones super villains? It's just not fair, how can this happen to me twice?"

"Whatever let's just go. All this waiting around is boring me." Superboy began advancing towards the two villains who were both sorting through jewelry in front of the store. He was flanked by both Robin and Taskmaster who were both ready for a fight.

Tommy saw the three heroes advancing and welcomed them. "Well looks like we managed to draw a crowd."

"I didn't realize the circus was in town." Tuppence said when she saw the outfits the boys were wearing. "One looks like a milk bottle, the other looks like a bulls-eye, and the last one looks like Jack Skellington moonlighting as a dominatrix."

Taskmaster looked over his costume and didn't see where she got dominatrix from. He shook those thoughts from his head and stepped forward. "Okay you two; we can do this the easy way." He activated his energy shield. "Or we can do this the really easy way."

Tueppence began walking towards a nearby hotdog cart. "Well since we are outnumbered the only logical thing would be to…" She grabbed the hotdog cart and to the astonishment of the boys lifted it above her head easily. She threw the cart at the trio and they all jumped out of the way of it.

"She has super strength!" Robin stated while hiding behind a pillar.

"Well done Holmes you've solved that case easily!" Taskmaster said sarcastically. He looked over at their adversaries, Tuppence and Tommy were in fighting stances and both sides were waiting for the other to make a move. They didn't have to wait long.

"We can't just go running into a fight with two Meta-humans." Robin said "We need an attack plan."

"I have a plan. It's called Attack!" Superboy yelled. He charged forward and tackled Tommy who wasn't prepared for the clones super strength, the two of them ended up crashing through a display window of a nearby videogame store. That left Robin and Taskmaster with Tuppence.

After seeing her brother tackled Tuppence grabbed a nearby pretzel cart and chucked it at the two boys who moved out of the way. The cart crashed into a bookstore completely destroying the front entrance.

"We have to move the fight away from the stores, or we risk civilian casualties." Robin stated as he reached into his belt and pulled out several batarangs and threw them at her, they hit her and exploded on impact but Tuppence merely shrugged them off.

"You boys sure know how to disappoint a girl; I thought this would actually be fun."

Taskmaster shook his head. "Dude this is useless. I can't hit girls…their soft."

"Now's not a good time to be a gentleman TM. Just use your projectiles, I'm going in, let's use maneuver six." Taskmaster nodded and activated his energy shield.

Robin charged at Tuppence with his eskrima sticks drawn out and ready to fight, the girl charged at him prepared to crush the younger boy. But right before Robin reached her he ducked Taskmaster threw his shield. It soared over Robin and hit Tuppence in the face giving the younger boy the opening he needed.

He rammed his eskrima sticks into her stomach but he found out that her skin was as tough as she was. Tuppence shrugged off the impact from the shield and grabbed Robin by the front of his costume. Robin swung his right fist and hit girl in the face then hit her again and again but it didn't even faze her. Hitting Tuppence was like hitting a brick wall; he was hurting himself more than her.

Tuppence was so preoccupied with Robin that she didn't see Taskmaster run up to her. He pulled out a can of mace from his utility belt and sprayed it into the girl's eyes. She screamed and dropped Robin who quickly recovered.

"Nice save, but what are we going to do? These guys are too strong; it feels like I'm hitting a wall whenever I punch one of them." Robin stated while clutching his aching right fist.

Hearing the boy's voice, Tuppence charged at the sound and swung trying to hit either of her opponents. "I'm going to kill you both for this! I can't see anything!" She yelled while using one arm to lunge at the boys and the other to wipe the mace out of her eyes.

"Jeez this chick is throwing a hissy fit that would make the set of desperate housewives look like a narcoleptic s convention." Taskmaster stated as he dodged out of the way of one of Tuppences powerful swings. Both Taskmaster and Robin leapt away from her and gave her a wide berth.

"This is pointless, we need a plan." Taskmaster said while looking at Tuppence who was wiping her eyes and still trying to find them. "Even with her blinded we can't hit her hard enough to do any damage."

"Maneuver thirteen?"

"Let's do it."

Taskmaster reactivated his energy shield and Robin slapped every exploding batarang he could to the surface of the shield. They looked over and saw Tuppence was beginning to regain her vision, seeing the two boys who caused her so much pain the girl charged at them.

Once Robin slapped the last exploding batarang onto the shield he armed them. Taskmaster flung the shield straight into the charging girl and it exploded on impact sending her flying through the air until she slammed into a nearby wall. She fell to the ground unmoving and apparently unconscious.

"That was sweet, first time we ever got to use that." Taskmaster stated happily. "How do you think Superboy is doing with his fight?"

As if to answer their question Superboy was flung out of a nearby store window and was soon pinned down by Tommy.

"Put some handcuffs on Tuppence while I help Superboy." Robin said while running to Superboys aid. "And be quick about it we are going to need your help."

While Robin ran to Superboys aid, Taskmaster pulled out a pair of handcuffs to restrain Tuppence. "We could have been great together. We got along so well, you could've been the one. There was a chance that we could've fallen in love…our children would have been smart and beautiful but NO! You had to go be a villain…my life sucks." Taskmaster said as he approached her prone form he was about to slap the handcuffs on her but her but Tuppence regained consciousness and lunged at Taskmaster.

He didn't have time to dodge and found himself pinned to the ground with Tuppence on top of him. His legs were pinned by her legs and her hands were latched around his throat, choking the life out of him. Taskmaster grabbed her hands in a vain attempt to make her loosen her grip but she wasn't budging.

"Think it's funny to mace my eyes? Well your about to see what I think is funny." She tightened her grip around his throat.

"You're into the erotic asphyxiation thing eh? That's pretty kinky, not really my thing but for you I'm willing to try it out." Taskmaster joked, Tuppence responded by tightening her grip causing Taskmaster to gasp for air. He knew he couldn't overpower her or hurt her so that left him with only one option.

"Honk…honk…" He managed to gasp out as he took both his hands off Tuppences arms and firmly grabbed both her breasts and fondled them. The effect was immediate, she let go and leapt away from him while clutching her chest in embarrassment.

"You sick Pervert!" She yelled angrily, she was extremely flustered and shocked, but quickly replaced her shock with anger.

Taskmaster's thoughts were focused more on breathing, with her hands finally off of his throat he could finally get some much needed oxygen and regain his bearings. Tuppence simply glared at her masked opponent while shielding her chest.

Once he regained his breath Taskmaster let out a small chuckle. "You're calling me a pervert? You were the one straddling me and using me as a means to fulfill your sick erotic asphyxiation fantasies! At least buy me dinner first before trying to take advantage of me."

"_Not my proudest moment…groping a girl for victory…actually I kind of wish more of my fights were like that…maybe I am a bad example…a sexy bad example" _He thought to himself as he prepared himself for her inevitable attack.

Tuppence finally got over her embarrassment and replaced it with a seething anger. "You are so dead!" She yelled as she charged Taskmaster. Taskmaster activated his energy shield and used it to deflect a strong punch she threw his way. The shield absorbed the kinetic energy and got stronger as a result.

"Stop hiding behind your shield you weakling! Your just a small insignificant insect and the second your shield breaks I'm going to crush you!"

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are angry at me."

Taskmaster stumbled back as her punches grew stronger; the girl wasn't going to let up. He needed to have her make to a mistake that he could exploit, and the only way for that to happen was to make her angry. So he did the thing he was best at, talking someone to death.

"I don't think me being small is a bad thing. My height is an attribute, as I am able to hide in small spaces. And everybody loves hobbits. _Lord of the Rings_ was a great movie; it was written by Peter Jackson, who also makes cigarettes."

"You think you're funny?"

"I like to think I am, but if you find me unfunny you should blame my writers." Taskmaster responded while blocking another one of her punches. He went on the offensive and slammed his shield into her arm as hard as he could, but all that managed to do was cause Tuppence to stumble a bit, not enough for him to exploit.

"You're going to have to try harder than that Skeletor, it takes more than a lame shield to hurt me."

"Speaking of Skeletor have you ever watched He-man? The guy is totally in the closet, He-Man splits his time between two identities. During his everyday life he is Prince Adam, whose outfit of choice is tights under a button-up shirt. While this getup is presumably meant to throw everybody off the scent of the fabulousness that pulses under the surface, he probably could have come up with a better disguise than 'middle-aged woman on her way to aerobics class.'" He said.

Tuppence realized that the fight wasn't going anywhere and at the rate things were going she might kill herself to avoid hearing this guy talk. She decided to switch her tactics. She slammed her fist against Taskmasters shield and right afterwards sent kneed Taskmaster in the groin. She thought it would send her opponent to the ground writhing in pain but instead she felt a strong surge of pain in her knee and pulled away clutching it in pain.

Taskmaster laughed a bit when he saw her in pain. He reached down the front of his pants and pulled out his freeze gun, there hadn't been enough room for it on his belt so he stashed it in the safest place he could think of, his pants.

"Yes that is a gun in my pants, but it doesn't mean I'm not happy to see you." Taskmaster said as he aimed it at her and shot her with a large blast from the freeze gun. After a few seconds Tuppence was trapped in a block of ice.

"Knowing Meta-humans that won't hold you for long, but it might be enough time for me to regroup with the others…I probably should have used the gun earlier." He said to himself as he looked at the freeze gun in his hands. "Now where are Superboy and Robin? Maybe they had more luck fighting Tommy."

Taskmasters question was answered when he turned around and saw both his friends being flung across the mall by an enraged Tommy. The pair landed at the other end of the main lobby and Taskmaster ran over to check on them. Tommy was about to intercept the masked hero but saw his sister frozen in a block of ice.

"Crap! Lil sis what the hell happened to ya?" He asked as he ran over to his sister and began slowly chipping away at her icy prison.

This gave Taskmaster enough time to reach his friends. "You guys okay?"

Superboy got up and dusted himself off. "I'm fine, but this guy hits as hard as Blockbuster." He said as he helped Robin up, the Boy Wonder was a little worse off, he had noticeable patches of his outfit torn off and had bruises forming.

The trio looked over at Tommy who had just managed to mostly free his sister from her icy prison.

"We need a plan." Taskmaster said as he checked over his equipment. "The reason we were having so much trouble earlier was because we got separated. We're a team now and we have to fight as one if we want to stand a chance against these guys."

Superboy and Robin nodded their affirmation. Taskmaster began formulating a plan, he looked up and saw the second story of the mall, and people were looking down over the railings and watching the fight. He also noticed a large fountain in the center of the lobby.

"Robin, go up to the second story and be ready to leap down if we need you, call out anything you see. Superboy you and me are going straight into the fight, just do whatever I tell you to. First we want to get the two of them as close to the fountain as possible." Taskmaster ordered, the others nodded and they got ready for a fight. Robin used his grappling hook to get up on the second floor, Taskmaster activated his energy shield, and Superboy cracked his knuckles.

While they were formulating their plan Tommy had managed to get Tuppence out of her Icy prison and both were walking towards them ready for a fight.

Taskmaster activated the radio in his helmet that was linked up with Robins.

"_Rob, you need to hit Tuppence from your vantage point, and allow me to strike her."_

"_Roger that."_

"Superboy, you distract Tommy, while I get Tuppence. Once she's out of the way we will all attack Tommy together as a team, no lone wolf stuff anymore, got it?"

"Fine, no lone wolf stuff." Superboy confirmed as he got ready to fight.

With that settled they both ran at the Twins ready to fight. Superboy threw a large punch at Tommy, who simply blocked it with his forearm. The blond then rammed his head into Superboys intent on headbutting the clone into submission. Unfortunately a kryptonians skull is rather hard and Tommy ended up stumbling backwards while clutching his head in pain. This gave Superboy the opening he needed and he put Tommy in a vicious headlock.

Taskmaster was busy dealing with Tuppence, they were doing the exact same thing they did the last time they fought. Taskmaster was blocking every strike with his shield, but this time he had a plan. Over the course of their fight he was leading her closer to the fountain in the room; he finally had her with her back to the fountain.

"Robin NOW!" He yelled, Robin was perched atop the fountain and grabbed a pair of bolos from his belt. He threw them and they wrapped themselves around Tuppences legs, effectively immobilizing her. Taskmaster used this opportunity to ram her as hard as he could with his shield; she flew backwards and fell into the deep fountain. Before Tuppence could try to untie the cord around her legs or try and get out of the fountain, Taskmaster shot the water with his freeze pistol and froze the entire fountain, trapping her in ice.

Now that Tuppence was taken care of the two boys turned their attention to Tommy who managed to get out of Superboys headlock and was now going on the offensive. Tommy punched Superboy as hard as he could in the face, sending the clone flying across the room.

Before Tommy could continue attacking Superboy Robin swung down using his grappling hook, and kicked the boy in the face. The momentum of the swing allowed Robin to send Tommy reeling backwards in pain. Before he could recover from the attack Taskmaster struck him in the face with his shield while Robin simultaneously threw bolos at the boy's legs. With his legs wrapped up Tommy fell backwards, before he could even think about getting up he was on his back and Robin slapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

"Get these things off of me!" Tommy yelled as he tried to break free, both his arms and legs were immobilized; all he could do was squirm.

"No use, those cuffs can hold Superman." Robin stated happily. Superboy walked up to the trio and held his face, Tommys punch left a nasty bruise on the clones jaw.

"We won?"

"Looks like we did…what about Tuppence is it safe to leave he trapped in ice?" Robin asked as he looked back at the frozen fountain where she was trapped.

"Its fine, Captain colds gun is designed to preserve people and keep them alive, he might be a criminal but he has no interest in going to jail on a murder charge. Taskmaster answered, the then looked at his watch.

"Five…four…three…two…and one." He counted out loud and pointed towards the doors to the mall and just as he did Police officers broke through and began securing the area. The leader of the police force walked up to Taskmaster, it was obvious they had worked together before.

"What's the situation Taskmaster?" He asked while scanning the mall for threats and evaluating damage.

"Two Meta-human criminals tried to rob Gemini Jewels, we managed to subdue them." Taskmaster gestured to Tommy who was still struggling on the ground. "The other one is frozen in the fountain, she needs to be De-thawed and put in handcuffs. Both have Super strength so be careful when transporting them."

The officer nodded. "Thanks again Taskmaster, me and my men will secure the area and get the criminals processed. Carry on."

Taskmaster turned to his two friends who were both still recovering from the fight. "All that fighting made me hungry, want to go get some food? I know this great Diner about two blocks from here."

OoOoO

_Fifteen minutes later_

The three heroes were all sitting in a private booth in the back of a diner. The restaurant manager made sure to keep them away from any prying eyes, allowing the young heroes to relax and reflect on the day's events.

"I can't believe she was a villain…first girl to show interest in me for a long time and she turns out evil." Taskmaster said as he leaned back in his seat. "I blame you for this Rob, you made me talk to her."

Robin was relaxing in his seat with his head propped up on the table. "And here I thought you two were getting along great. I was already looking forward to being the best man at your wedding."

"Keep joking and I'll make you the flower boy at the wedding." Taskmaster retorted.

Robin laughed "Don't worry TM, you'll find a girl eventually, hopefully she won't be a psychotic criminal…but that might be wishful thinking at this point."

"What do you think Superboy?" Taskmaster looked at the clone who was sitting right next to him. Superboy had his head leaning against the wall, his jaw was still in pain and he could barely talk.

"You…can't…imagine…how…little…I…care…" Superboy managed to say, he was in no mood for conversation.

Just then a waitress walked up to the booth where the three of them were sitting. "What can I get you boys?" She asked happily, simply thrilled at being able to serve three heroes.

"I'll have the club sandwich." Robin said as he handed the waitress his menu. She nodded and turned to Taskmaster.

"I'll have the sumo burger supreme with fries, and bring a bowl of gravy on the side." He said happily, the waitress nodded and took his menu then looked at Superboy. "Is your friend going to have anything?"

"We think he might have a broken jaw. So bring him some vanilla pudding." Taskmaster said as he looked over at the still form of Superboy. The waitress nodded and walked off to fill out their orders.

Right when she walked off Batman appeared at the booth to the surprise of everyone there.

"Good job stopping those criminals, you came together and worked as a team." Batman stated proudly.

"What the hell are you doing in Central city and how did you sneak in here? It's the middle of the afternoon and this place has only one entrance." Taskmaster said as he looked around the diner for any entry points.

Batman ignored him and instead threw a piece of paper in front of him. "I came to tell you that everything is set up. Tomorrow you will report to these coordinates." Batman's stated while pointing to the paper on the table.

"Is that it? Because you could have just called us." Robin said, he couldn't understand why Bruce would take time out of his busy day to tell them something so simple.

"The reason I came in person was to give Taskmaster this." He handed Taskmaster an envelope "Congratulations." With that said Batman walked out of the diner and got into the Batmobile that was parked in front of the diner.

Taskmaster turned to the envelope in his hand and opened it.

"Congratulations Wally West, you have gotten a full scholarship to Gotham academy with tuition and expenses covered." He read out loud.

"Dude that's awesome, we can totally hangout!" Robin said happily, both Taskmaster and Robin high fived.

"This is cool, but why did he give this to me? I'm needed here in Central City and I have no place to live in Gotham." Taskmaster asked as he read over the rest of the acceptance letter. The idea of going to school with his best friend was awesome and Gotham academy would help him succeed later in life, but it would leave Central City defenseless.

"Dude don't sweat it, I'm sure Bats will explain everything in due time. For now let's eat." Robin said, the waitress returned with their food and they all dug in. Taskmaster took off the mouthpiece to his mask and began devouring his burger while Robin slowly ate his club sandwich. Even Superboy got over the pain in his jaw and slowly ate his vanilla pudding. The boys ate in complete silence, this was their rest after a long day and nothing needed to be said.

Something suddenly occurred to Robin.

"Dude…we left our shopping bags in the mall bathroom."

Taskmaster slammed his head against the table.

"Goddamnit."

OoOoO

**Authors note-This is a long one so be warned, I have a lot to say.**

I'm sorry, I know you all want Artemis and the team and all that good stuff, all in good time. I did say eventual spitfire in the description. Artemis will be a huge part of the story when she's introduced.

I also enabled anonymous reviews, didn't even know it was disabled. So review away my anonymous friends…no flames or spam please. Unless it's the edible spam, love that stuff.

I know this chapter was weak, but I really need to develop Wally's character, I'm asking all of you to buy into a lot with this story. Wally has a new power, personality, and back-story so I need to develop him. This is why I have Superboy around. Wally and Robin are best friends so they don't talk about their backgrounds since it's unspoken between them, but Superboy is new and doesn't know Wally's background, allowing exposition to occur. Also I apologize if my sense of humor is juvenile or lame, what I find funny and what others find funny are very different so I hope the jokes and dialogue weren't terrible in this chapter.

Believe it or not I DO actually read all the reviews, and I do listen to my readers. This story is yours as well; your criticism and support help shape this story. In fact I changed several scenes in the last chapter after Mazeygrace18 commented on how it was a bit Wally-centric. So I made a few adjustments.

As usual I would like to thank all those who reviewed the last chapter.

Thank you- Irenerb, Mazeygrace18,Kiacoral,lolmak, My own Mayday parade,cary99, Dextra2,blackirishawk,Eeza,ZakSaturday,Soulfulbard,afterfake13,silverangel83,Wallywestlover,Sunnybunnyluvsu77,Simple Shimmers, anon, Shenaniganskid, Asparkoflight, animeflunky. You guys are the best. Also my profile has a few story Ideas im toying around with, if you wanna check those out go for it.

Don't worry guys; I have great ideas for unique story lines. I will be rewriting episodes of the show and putting my own unique twist on them but I will also be introducing original storylines. Next chapter won't be up for awhile, I have to sort through things…also I bought Diablo 3 so that's going to pretty much destroy my social life for awhile.

Please leave a review! Those little reviews force me to write more.


	7. Team Building

Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 8, 08:04 EDT**

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League." Batman stated as he guided the young group of heroes following him. Robin, Aqualad, Superboy and Taskmaster were listening to the Dark Knight with rapt attention. They were flanked by their mentors who were looking at the cave with nostalgia and were remembering days long since passed, back when the Justice League was merely an idea.

"We are calling it into service again since the four of you are determined to stay together and fight the good fight; you will do it on League terms." Batman said as he turned to the four teens that were lined up in the center of the room. "Red Tornado volunteered to your supervisor and Black Canary is in charge of training." He gestured to the Tornado and Black Canary who were standing in the corner of the room watching the briefing.

"But only I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked, still not believing what was going on. He knew Batman was going to set them up for crime fighting but he never imagined all of this, it almost seemed too good to be true.

"Yes, but covert ones."

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff, there's a reason we have these big bright targets on our chests." Flash said while pointing to the lightning bolt logo on his chest.

Taskmaster shook his head after hearing his uncle's statement. "That's why you have a target on your chest? My chest logo design was deliberately meant as a target, attracting a potential gunman's aim to my heavily armored chestpiece, and away from my less armored face and limbs" He said while pointing to the TM logo on his chest.

Flash looked at his nephew's chest logo thoughtfully. "That is a good idea…why didn't I think of that?"

"Moving on!" Batman proclaimed loudly, interrupting the conversation. "Cadmus shows that the bad guys are getting smarter, I need a team that can operate covertly. The five of you will be that team."

"Five?" Robin asked, there were only four of them. Taskmaster,Superboy,Kaldur, and himself.

Batman pointed over to the Zeta Beam teleporter where two figures were walking towards them. "This is the Martian Man-hunters niece, Miss Martian." Batman said, gesturing to the young girl who was standing next to her uncle.

"Hi." She said shyly while giving the group a small wave.

"Hot…green…alien…girl…I would like to thank Captain Kirk, and Picard for making this possible." Taskmaster said to himself softly, the only two people to hear his statement were Robin and Superboy. Robin responded by elbowing his friend in the stomach while Superboy simply look confused at the other boys words.

Taskmaster rubbed his side where Robin elbowed him. "You can't honestly say you weren't thinking the same thing." He whispered, Robin simply shook his head.

"Only you would think that TM, you need to stop watching science fiction movies and playing so many games." Robin said to his friend, but Taskmaster ignored him and went up to introduce himself to the beautiful Martian.

"Welcome Aboard." He said while shaking the green girls' hand. "I'm Taskmaster, these are my friends Robin,Aqualad, and Superboy, but it's cool if you forget their names."

"It is an honor to be recruited." She said happily, everyone walked up and began introducing themselves, but Taskmaster hung back with Superboy.

"Dude you're my wing-man for this, you have to make me look good in front of her." Taskmaster said to Superboy.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because she is a hot alien girl and there aren't many of them running around, this might be my only chance. Just make me look good in front of her, can you do that?"

Superboy nodded and they both approached Miss Martian together, she finished introducing herself to Kaldur and Robin and turned to Superboy. Upon seeing Superboy her face turned slightly pink as she introduced herself.

"I really like your shirt." As she said that her outfit turned from its normal white/blue coloration to a mixture of black and red.

Superboy ignored her and pointed at Taskmaster. "My friend Taskmaster is an exceptional genetic specimen of his species, and is excellent breeding material." Superboy said, Miss Martian simply scratched her head in confusion; Taskmaster ran up to them and tried to repair the damage.

"Don't listen to Superboy, he's a real Joker. Guy never takes anything seriously." Taskmaster said to Miss Martian. She nodded and let out a small laugh.

"Must be a human joke because I didn't really understand it. Still it is nice to meet the both of you"

Taskmaster let out a sigh of relief, he was about to try his luck with talking with Miss Martian but before he could his uncle walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wally we need to talk."

"Don't say my name when we are in public." Taskmaster said quickly, hoping no one heard. Flash simply shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, let's talk privately then." He picked up his nephew bridal style, before anyone noticed or Taskmaster had a chance to complain they were out of the Cave and standing near the shoreline in Happy harbor. He dropped his nephew onto the sandy beach.

"What the hell was that for Barry? I was about to get to know Miss Martian better and maybe repair the damage Superboy caused with his terrible wingman skills." Taskmaster said while picking himself up off the beach and dusting the sand off his costume.

"Sorry but we needed to talk, and I wouldn't worry about Miss Martian, you'll be getting a lot of time to know her soon." Flash said while looking out at the ocean, the two of them were completely alone on the small isolated area of beach.

Taskmaster used his masks thermal vision to look for anyone that might be hiding nearby, after seeing no one was around he slipped off his mask and let the cool sea breeze sweep through his red hair. It felt good to have his mask off but it felt unusual feeling so exposed, and the feeling of sun on his bare skin felt alien to him. He shook those thoughts from his head and focused back on his uncle.

Flash decided to follow his nephew's example and slipped off his own cowl. The two of them simply stood there looking at each other, it seemed like an eternity since either of them had seen each other without their masks on. Finally Wally decided to break the silence that had fallen between them.

"So why did you drag me out here Barry?" Wally asked as he sat down on the beach.

"Iris and I…have decided that it would be best if you moved into Mount Justice." Barry said as he sat down next to his nephew who was simply starring at him wide-eyed.

"You're kicking me out of the house?" He asked almost not believing what he was hearing.

"No, it's not like that!" Barry interjected before his nephew could leap to anymore conclusions. "It would just be for the best given recent events, and it would be safer for you to live at Mount Justice."

"What recent events?" Wally asked. "And why are you worried about my safety?"

"For one thing you've been accepted to Gotham Academy." Barry answered. "Living in Mount Justice will give you access to a Zeta Tube that can take you to school easily. Living in the cave will also improve your safety since you'll actual have adult supervision." As much as Barry hated to admit it he hadn't been around for Wally these last few months. The boy stayed home alone while he was working as a forensic officer and superhero, it worked for a long time until Iris got a job as a field reporter. Now Wally spent most of his time alone as a shut in, the only times he left the house was to see Robin, go to school and fight crime.

"I've been fine living by myself while you and Iris have been busy, and there's a Zeta Tube in our backyard so that can't be the reason you want me to live in a cave." He replied. "How did you even know about that Gotham Academy thing in the first place? I didn't even have a chance to show you my acceptance letter."

"I have my sources." Was Barry's answer.

"Would that source of yours be a social pariah who dresses up as a Bat, and talks in a gravelly voice?"

"Maybe…" Barry answered while scratching the back of his head. "It doesn't matter who told me, all that matters is that you live somewhere other than Central City, people would get suspicious if they saw you in Central when you're getting your schooling in Gotham."

"I still haven't decided if I'm going to Gotham Academy." Wally said. "Central City would be left defenseless with me gone; I've been defending the city solo for the last two months since you've been busy with the League."

Barry couldn't help but feel guilty after hearing that. It was true that he hadn't really helped Wally fight crime for months. But in the end he really didn't have much of a choice, the League and his day job kept him busy, and Wally was capable of operating on his own.

"Wally we both know Central City will be fine. Ever since you became my sidekick we've reduced crime exponentially. Every single major criminal has left the city or been put into jail, Captain Colds robbery was the first Major crime in months." Barry turned to his nephew. "And you're going to Gotham Academy, your intelligence is being wasted in public school and Bruce was kind enough to offer you a full scholarship, and you get to hang out with Robin on a daily basis, it's a win/win situation."

"I guess living in Mount Justice would let me be around Miss Martian…" Wally trailed off and let his imagination wander.

"Wally I hate to burst your bubble but that's a little creepy." Barry said after seeing the perverted blush that adorned his nephews face. Wally glared at his uncle angrily."Don't get me wrong Wally I think your little crush is cute, but you need to find that special someone who completes you, not chase some fantasy."

"_I thought I found that person once, and that ended in disaster."_ Wally thought to himself, he saw his uncle was waiting for a response. "We're all looking for that special someone; unfortunately most girls won't give me the time of day."

Barry turned to his nephew and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Your only fifteen, you're bound to go through a bunch of bad relationships before you find that special someone. Even I had a few bad ones, and crazy ones, and even one involving time travel and alternate dimensions."

"How did that happen?"

"It's a long complicated story, but in the end it doesn't matter. I married Iris and my life has been perfect ever since. So turn that frown upside down and get ready to move into your new home." Barry got up out of the sand and gestured to Mount Justice. "I already have your stuff being sent to your new room."

"You moved my stuff without my permission!" Wally yelled angrily.

"Did I mention you now have your own lab?" Barry interjected before Wally could get angrier.

"My own lab?" Wally asked, not quite believing his ears.

"Yup, it used to be Batman's old research and development room back when this Mountain was our headquarters, I had it cleaned and filled with brand new equipment."

"Fine, I'll move into the mountain, but I'm not keen on the idea of living with a giant red robot." Wally said crossly. Inside he was jumping for joy at the thought of having his own lab but he didn't want to let his Uncle know how excited he was.

"Then it's settled." Barry proclaimed happily. "Let's go get you settled into your new home."

Wally put his mask back on and Barry pulled his cowl up, with both their identities hidden they were ready to go back to the cave.

"Race you there!" Flash yelled and he was gone in an instant leaving behind his nephew.

"Jerk." Taskmaster said as he chased after his uncle_. "God I wish I hadn't screwed up that experiment."_ He thought to himself as he ran back to the headquarters.

Taskmaster was sad to see that by the time he got back to the cave his friends had left with their respected guardian, leaving him to hang out with Superboy and Miss Martian. He decided to dedicate the rest of his day to moving into the cave.

OoOoO

Wally West was a happy guy. Many people would agree with this statement, he was usually cheerful and always willing to crack a joke but right now he was unusually happy.

The reason he was happy was because he had spent the last few hours in his new room and in his new lab, everything exceeded his expectations and he spent the rest of the day organizing everything. He moved all his projects, and experiments into his lab and set everything up, the lab was enormous and had tons of science equipment for him to toy around with. His room was also amazing, it had two large closets and a private bathroom, his uncle had all his belongings packed and waiting for him, all he had to do was unpack it all and set everything up.

After his room and lab were in order he decided it was time to hang out with his two new roommates. Wally put on his mask and resumed his identity as Taskmaster, he might have trusted Superboy with his identity but he wasn't quite at that point with Miss Martian, no matter how cute she was.

"_I'm not going to fall for a pretty face again…"_ Taskmaster thought to himself. His good mood instantly vanished, his idyllic memory pulled up images he tried to suppress. Memories of the past flashed before his eyes.

_He held his side and tried to breathe, the pain was terrible. He lifted his hand in front of his face._

_It was red with blood, his blood._

"_Why?" He asked."Why would you do this?"_

"_I'm so sorry." _

Taskmaster let out a loud gasp as he exited the memory. His entire body was coated in sweat and he was trembling, he reached down to his side and much to his relief he wasn't injured. He knew it was an old memory but it had felt real, with his powers all memories felt real.

"Stupid photographic memories, making me remember things that are best left forgotten." He said to himself. He shook those thoughts from his head and tried to calm himself down.

"_Don't think about her Wally, you're too awesome to be sad."_

Once he calmed himself down he walked into the living area where Miss Martian and Superboy were watching television. They were watching pure static on the television and Taskmaster noticed how Miss Martian tried to sit as close to Superboy as possible.

"_Some guys get all the luck."_ He thought to himself. Miss Martian noticed Taskmasters entrance and flew over to greet him.

"Hey there Taskmaster, I'm glad to see you finished moving in, isn't the cave great?" She beamed happily while gesturing to the large living area.

"It is pretty awesome, looks like living here with you guys is going to be pretty cool." Taskmaster said happily, he couldn't help but smile after seeing the girl so happy. She was a hyperactive ball of sunshine. His thoughts were interrupted by a growl from his stomach he looked over at the kitchen and decided to make some food.

"I'm going to make some dinner, do you guys want anything?" He asked as he entered the kitchen area and began rummaging through the fridge and cabinets. He found that they were well stocked, he found a plethora of different foods all ready to be eaten. He pulled out several steaks that were defrosted and some vegetables.

"Want to help me cook Miss Martian?" Taskmaster asked while laying all the food preparations on the table. The green girl nodded excitedly and flew over to help him.

"I'd love to help, although this will be my first time cooking an earth meal." She said while levitating several utensils over to them. "You don't have to call me Miss Martian, my name is M'gann M'orzz but you can just call me Megan."

"Alright Megan we are going to make a traditional earth meal of steak, potatoes, macaroni, and salad." Taskmaster said as he got everything ready. "Want to help us Superboy?"

The clone sat on the couch in silence and watched the static television but after a few moments he got up and began helping with preparations.

"I need you to tenderize the steaks." Taskmaster handed Superboy the steaks and the clone put it on a cutting board and began punching it. Not exactly the best way to tenderize them but Taskmaster didn't comment since Superboy wasn't breaking them.

"Megan you can handle the macaroni and cheese, just follow the instructions on the box." He handed her the box and Megan began preparing the food. As she began cooking it she decided to strike up a conversation.

"So how did you learn to cook? From what I've watched on earth television it's mostly human females that do the cooking." She said while boiling the water for the macaroni.

"Has Superboy explained to you how my powers work?" He asked while washing the vegetables for the salad.

"He said you can copy any fighting style you watch." M'gann responded as she poured the macaroni into the boiling water. "He also said you can remember things with perfect accuracy and that you talk too much."

"The term I used was 'His biggest weapon is his mouth'" Superboy said defensively as he finished tenderizing the meat. "What do you want me to do with this stuff now?"

"Just leave it there, Ill season it in a bit." Taskmaster turned his attention back to Megan. "I can duplicate any fighting style I observe but the abilities I learn aren't always for fighting. These hands know how to fight, steal, and on occasion cook. Observe."

Taskmaster laid out all the vegetables onto one big chopping board. Megan and Superboy watched him closely. Taskmaster grabbed a knife and began cutting everything on the board at a speed that was too fast for either Megan or Superboy to track. After a few seconds he finished cutting, all the vegetables and fruit were cut into perfectly sized pieces.

"Salad is done, Superboy wash your hands and mix this all together, Ill season and cook the steaks. Megan you might want to add some cheese to the macaroni. When you're done with that could you boil some water so I can get to work on the potatoes?"

"Sure thing, and you have to teach me how to chop like that, I really want to learn how to cook better. What do you know about baking?" M'gann asked in an excited tone. Taskmaster continued cooking dinner with the help of his fellow roommates. He directed Superboy who obeyed every task and answered all of the questions Megan threw at him about cooking, earth culture, and just about everything that popped into her head.

After what seemed like an eternity of cooking it was all finished. M'gann telepathically levitated all the food onto the dining room table. The meal consisted of fresh salad, steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, and macaroni and cheese. The trio finally sat down at the table and began enjoying the fruits of their labor.

"I'd like to thank the both of you, this is my first real meal on earth and it looks absolutely delicious." Megan said as she looked at all the food that lined the table. "It almost seems like a crime to eat such beautiful food."

"It's not a problem; truthfully it's been a long time since I had the chance to cook." Taskmaster said while grabbing a nearby glass of water. "Shall we toast to our new home and friendship?"

"I thought toast was the thing you put in a toaster?" M'gann asked, confused by Taskmasters reference.

"First off, toast doesn't go into a toaster. Bread does. "Taskmaster instructed. "And a toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. According to various old stories, the custom of touching glasses evolved from concerns about poisoning. By one account, clinking glasses together would cause each drink to spill over into the others, thus ensuring no one at the table had poisoned the drinks since they would be poisoning themselves. While in some other stories, the word _toast_ became associated with the custom in the 17th century where people would flavor drinks with spiced toast." Taskmaster continued lecturing, and began discussing the religious aspects of toasting.

Megan leaned over to Superboy_. "Does he always talk this much?" _She whispered, she was grateful that Taskmaster was so enthusiastic about explaining things to her but this seemed like a bit much.

"_This is the tip of the iceberg with him."_ Superboy whispered back, he leaned back into his chair and prepared to wait out Taskmasters lecture.

After several minutes the lecture was over and the group began to eat in relative silence. After an hour of good food and light conversation they all said goodnight to each other and went their separate ways. Taskmaster walked up to the door to his room and entered it and plopped down on the bed without even changing out of his costume.

"Maybe living with these guys won't be so bad after all." He said to himself before allowing sleep to take him.

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 17, 20:47 EDT-  
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Nine days had passed since Wally moved into the cave with both Superboy and Miss Martian and things had been interesting. He found that they were both extremely tolerable housemates, although they did keep him busy. He found himself keeping the peace, having two aliens living in the same house lead to a bunch of misunderstandings between the two that could have gotten ugly fast.

There was an incident involving Megan using her telepathic powers to communicate, resulting in Superboy freaking out and nearly destroying a room, it had taken Wally an hour to calm the guy down and explain to M'gann how her powers were extremely invasive to humans.

The rest of his time was spent introducing the two aliens to human culture, teaching Megan how to cook things without burning them to a crisp, and teaching Superboy the basics of human life. He was so busy he rarely found time for himself, which is why Wally enjoyed days like this where he could just sit down in his new lab and work on new projects.

"C'mon you bastard…work!" Wally yelled angrily as he tinkered with several devices on his lab table. He was currently fumbling around with a small circular device that he had confiscated from Black Spider. A week ago he had gone with Kaldur and Robin to protect an executive by the name of Selena Gonzalez from the League of shadows. They were able to save her and put her in protective custody and arrest Black Spider and Hook, two of the Shadows finest assassins.

Wally had 'borrowed' Black Spiders web shooters and was now modifying them for his use; the initial results were less then promising. He was trying to compact the web shooters into a special pair of gauntlets he was making, but getting the damn things to work was a trial.

"_Alright almost got it…just need to focus…"_ He thought to himself as he put on the final adjustments with a small screwdriver.

"What up Wall-man, what are you working on?"

The voice startled Wally causing his hand to slip, the device he was working on exploded and shot a stick spider web like substance in all directions, the webbing ended up coating the entire lab. Wally sat there, unmoving and covered in web, seething in his own anger.

Robin wiped off some webbing that had splattered on his face. "Sorry dude, didn't mean to scare you, this is going to be hard to clean up." He stated while looking at the disheveled state of the lab.

"Robin?"

"Yes Wally?"

"Robin I'm going to turn around now and you'd better be on fire. You're standing there in flames and the only person who can put you out is me! Because that is the only conceivable reason that you would bother me in the sanctity of my lab when I'm conducting an experiment!" Wally yelled angrily.

"Dude chill out, I'm sorry! I only came here to check on you, Supes and Miss M said you've been in here all day." Robin said in an apologetic manner. Wally turned around and began wiping the webbing from his face and eyes.

"I'm allowed a little private time to myself, I've spent the last week helping those two out, it's really eaten into my social life." Wally responded while getting up and fixing his lab, he dusted all the webbing off and began throwing it into the trash can nearby.

"I figured you would enjoy spending so much time with Miss M, she says you've been teaching her how to cook, and she said you took her shopping." Robin said. He began helping Wally clean up the lab since the mess was partially his fault, even if he'd never admit it.

"Megan put me in the friend zone before I could even make a move." Wally said sadly. "Not to mention the fact shopping with her was terrible, I was stuck hauling her bags while she shopped for shampoos, perfume, and various other girly things."

Robin let out a small laugh at his friend's misfortune. "Sorry dude, guess it's not going according to plan."

"Probably for the best, after living with her I've come to see her differently. She's so sweet and innocent that I kind of see her as a little sister." Wally said while he finished cleaning off the lab tables and moved on to sweeping the floor.

"Really? I'm surprised you feel that way about her, it's only been a week."

"I'm surprised to, but living with someone forces you to look at them differently. Being around Megan so much has forced me to look at her as a person instead of a 'super hot alien girl'." Wally said while putting away his web shooter experiment back into a drawer.

"There's got to be more to this Wally, what's troubling you?" Robin asked in a concerned tone. He could always tell when Wally was troubled, the redhead had a very honest face that always showed what he was feeling. "It's not like you to give up on a girl so easily."

"I'm not lying, living with Megan has forced me to see her as more of a friend…but I've also been thinking about _her_." Wally said, he practically spat out the word _her_.

"She-who-shall-not-be-named?" Robin questioned.

"Yup."

Robin shook his head sadly; he and Wally had already had this talk several times, but no matter what the Boy Wonder said it never helped. "Dude you have to move on, you can't let the past dictate your future."

"I know, I hadn't thought about her in so long…but that incident with Tuppence reminded me of her."

Robin rubbed his head trying to battle the headache he felt coming, he really did feel bad about the Tuppence incident, setting Wally up with a criminal wasn't his intention. "Look dude I know the Tuppence thing was bad, but you only talked to her for an hour, you barely knew anything about her."

"I know that, but we got along so well, we literally just talked for an entire hour. I thought we had a connection. " Wally sadly stated. "She actually liked me…for me. She liked the nerdy Wally West and found me interesting; most girls find me so annoying that they would lock me in a burning building if given the chance."

"_Same old bullshit, always putting yourself down."_ Robin thought to himself, he hated Wally when he got like this. No matter what he said it never changed anything. A silence descended between the pair for a long time. Until Wally decided to break it with a question.

"Did you know that Miss Martian is forty eight years old, apparently martians age much slower than us?"

"Are you serious? She acts and looks like she's sixteen…that's crazy."

"Yup, she's kind of the ultimate MILF."

Robin shook his head, amazed at how quickly Wally mood could go from depressing to joking in a matter of seconds. "And just like that you raised your creepiness levels by one thousand percent." Robin said as he finished sweeping the lab. Robin looked around at the various experiments Wally was conducting and shook his head. "Just as well, I knew you wouldn't stay interested in Miss M, she's not your type."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Wally asked. "I happen to like alien girls, I just happen to see Megan as more of a friend. I might ask her if she has any hot sisters."

"If she has more than one sister, send one my way." Robin joked.

"Right…because Richard Grayson, son of Bruce Wayne really needs help getting a girl." Wally sarcastically stated. "Every single teenage girl in Gotham city wants a date with the 'prince of Gotham'"

"Don't worry Wally, I'll send a few of the heartbroken ones your way, I can't handle all the girls by myself." Robin joked.

"Such generosity, I'm unworthy." Wally said, his expression turned from joking to serious. "I know you didn't come here just to talk about my dating life, what's really going on?"

"Well I did come to make sure you didn't do something stupid, your one lab accident away from becoming a super villain." Robin stated as he looked at one of Wally's experiments. It was a large plant that was being sustained by artificial sunlight, upon closer inspection he realized what type of plant it was. "Is this…a soybean plant?" He asked as he touched the numerous parts of the bean stalks.

"Good eye, I've been breeding this thing for the last year, brought it in here a few days ago, it's doing quite well." Wally said proudly as he looked at his latest creation.

"Don't you do enough science when you're in school?" Robin questioned as he continued his observations of the beans. He knew Wally loved science and wanted to enter into a science career when he got older but this was a bit much.

"I surpassed my teachers in scientific knowledge long ago." Wally responded. "School is just a waste of my time; this is real science, its pure discovery. I want to be able to help people with my powers beyond simply fighting crime, I want to use them to help get rid of the problems the world suffers from."

"I admire your dream Wally, but how is this plant supposed to help?" Robin asked.

"That plant is my solution to world hunger; I bred it specifically to grow rapidly in harsh environments. It requires very little sun, can grow in any soil, it gets all the water it needs from the air, and a small handful of the beans it produces has all the nutrients a adult needs to survive for a day." Wally stated proudly." There's only one problem with it." He walked over to the bean stalk and grabbed a bean off of it and offered it to Robin.

The younger boy accepted the bean and popped it into his mouth. His eyes widened and he spat it out immediately "Good lord! That is the foulest tasting thing I have ever eaten, it tastes like death!"

"And there's the problem, this stuff tastes so bad even starving people wouldn't eat it." Wally said sadly. "Luckily I'm close to a breakthrough that will solve the taste problem. Bruce even said he would use his company to promote my product if I can fix the taste."

"Well good luck, I can't imagine anything that tastes worst then that." Robin said while spitting up the last of the bad taste out of his mouth, wishing he had a bottle of mouthwash.

"Challenge accepted." Wally stated as he walked to another plant experiment. It was a tiny lemon tree he had grown indoors. "This tree is like the soybean plant, it's meant to give poor, arid countries a good source of vitamins. There's only one problem." He picked a lemon and threw it at a nearby wall. The second it impacted with the wall it exploded in a huge burst of fire.

"Did that lemon just explode?" Robin asked, not believing his eyes.

"Yup, the rapid growth mutated the citric acids in the lemon, making it combustible." Wally turned to Robin with a serious expression on his face. "Look Rob, I could give you a guided tour of my experiments but I get the feeling you're here for something else, so quit stalling and spill it."

Robin took a deep breath. "Kaldur wants to try and recruit Speedy into the team; we need you to come with us to Star City."

"I'm busy, and you know I don't get along with that guy, he hates my jokes." Wally stated as he cleaned up the mess from the lemon.

"Too bad, we need a marksman for the team and he's the best one available. So suit up and meet me at the Zeta tubes." Robin walked out of the lab leaving behind a frustrated Wally.

"Fine…" He said as he walked over to a large metal locker in his lab, he put his eye up to the retinal scanner and waited as the machine scanned it. The locker opened up with a hiss and his costume waited inside, he slipped it on and armed himself. "I guess I can install those upgrades later."

OoOoO

**Star City, July 17, 23:16 PDT**

Brick overlooked his operations with a fair amount of pride; he was the biggest dealer in illegal arms in all of Star City. Biggest referred to both the size of his operation and his physical size, the man was tall and muscular with dark skin. To top this all of he was blessed with superhuman strength.

"Move those guns faster! We have a deadline to meet!" Brick yelled to his men who were working to unload the gun shipments. Two of his men had just removed a large box of ammunition when a red arrow struck the ground next to them. The arrow exploded and released knockout gas that knocked out all the men near it

Brick looked to the source of the arrow and saw Speedy readying another arrow.

"You again? I'm starting to get insulted Green Arrows not messing up my operations personally!" He yelled angrily as he pulled a pistol out of his jacket and shot at the boy. The pistols energy bolt struck the area Speedy was and caused a large explosion, Speedy leapt out of the way of several more shots using his acrobatics. He landed on a shipping container and began returning fire.

One of Speedy's arrows struck Brick in the chest and exploded, shredding the man's suit.

"You little bastard! You have any idea how much I pay for a suit in my size?" Brick asked angrily, he turned to his men. "Scorch the earth boys."

Before his men could open fire with their guns they were knocked from their hands by birdarangs. Robin swung over the group and landed safely on a container. The now disarmed thugs were easy pickings for Aqualad who ran in and hit them with his water whip, knocking them unconscious. He then ran to the containers to regroup with Speedy.

Brick was getting angry; he began to use his superhuman strength to tear large chunks of concrete out of the ground to hurl at the heroes who were ruining his operations. While he was doing this Speedy was hitting him with numerous arrows that were exploding on impact.

Aqualad leapt up next to Speedy who was standing on a container. "The cave is perfect; it has everything the team will need." He said to Speedy who barely acknowledged Aqualads presence. Brick threw a large chunk of concrete at the two heroes. Speedy jumped out of the way, while Aqualad activated his water sword and sliced the chunk of concrete in half.

"_Taskmaster we need a distraction, where the hell are you?"_ Robin asked over his radio, he threw several birdarangs to try and distract Brick long enough for one of his fellow heroes to get in a shot._ "We need you to distract Brick long enough for Speedy to get in a shot; the guy has us pinned down."_ Robin leapt out of the way of another piece of concrete and hid behind a container next to Speedy.

Taskmaster was crouching on top of a tall container watching the entire exchange. He was watching the entire exchange with great interest, specifically he was watching Speedy. His eyes were scanning the older boy and taking in all of his movements and attacks, memorizing every last detail and taking the other boys abilities as his own. He finally decided that he had memorized enough and got ready to intervene.

Taskmaster jumped down from the container onto the ground and ran at Brick who has his back turned to him. Taskmaster reached into his utility belt and grabbed a small sticky device and ran up to the large man and stuck it to his back.

Brick felt the sticky device and turned around to smash Taskmaster but the boy had already run away. "What the hell did you stick onto my back?"

"A small sticky grenade, you have about ten seconds to make peace before it blows you sky high!" Taskmaster said as he hid behind some crates.

Brick began to panic and tried to reach the place on his back where he felt the device was stuck. While he was panicking Speedy was able to come out of cover and line up a shot, just as Brick managed to grab the device off his back. The older man looked at the 'sticky bomb' and realized something.

"This isn't a grenade; it's a glob of silly puddy!" He yelled the time Brick got over his anger, Speedy had lined up a shot and let his arrow fly, it stuck to the man's chest and released high density foam, trapping Brick in a foam cocoon.

Taskmaster walked over to the now imprisoned arms dealer. "Did you really think I would stick a grenade to you? I'm a jerk but not that much of a jerk." He chimed happily.

Taskmaster surveyed the battlefield and picked up two of the pistols that were being used by the henchmen during the fight. He studied them and noticed that they were designed to shoot energy bolts rather than bullets. _"With a few tweaks…these could be useful." _He thought to himself, he noticed that Aqualad and Robin were trying to convince Roy to join up with them. He put the pistols on his belt and ran over to join up with the rest of the group.

"So Speedy, you going to join up with us?" Robin asked. Speedy turned to the younger boy and narrowed his eyes.

"I pass, I'm done with the League telling me what to do, and I don't need a babysitter or clubhouse hangout with the other kids." Speedy stated angrily, he turned to his former sidekick friends and continued. "Your Junior Justice League is a joke, something to keep you busy, and in your place." With that said he walked off into the shadows leaving behind the others.

"What a dick, dude has a serious inferiority complex probably brought on by some physical inadequacies" Taskmaster said, the second those words left his lips a arrow with a blunt tip flew out of the darkness and struck him in the face."OW!" Taskmaster yelled, rubbing the front of his mask.

"I think he heard you." Robin said trying to suppress his laughter.

Taskmaster got up and activated his masks thermal vision, but he didn't see anything, Speedy had left the area. _"Coward" _He thought as he rubbed the part of his mask the arrow hit.

"Well whatever, I have better things to do then hangout here trying to recruit an archer with an inferiority complex. If you need me I'll be back in my lab." Taskmaster said as he walked off into the night.

"_I knew he wouldn't join up, but at least I got what I wanted."_ Taskmaster thought as he reviewed Speedy's fighting style in his head. _"If Roy doesn't want to be the Teams long-range support, I'll have to do it myself."_

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 18, 11:16 EDT**

Aqualad, Robin, Superboy, Megan, and Taskmaster all stood outside the caves garage entrance waiting for Red Tornado to arrive. They were all anxious to get a mission and start their work as covert crime fighters. They were all dressed in their civilian outfits, even Taskmaster was wearing a dark hooded jacket rather than his traditional body armor, the only part of his costume that was still on was his mask that covered his entire head.

Red Tornado finally came into view; he flew down to the teens that were waiting to greet him.

"_Is there a reason you all intercepted me outside the cave?"_ He asked in an emotionless robotic voice while looking at the teens in front of him.

Aqualad stepped forward. "We were hoping that you might have a mission for us." He stated calmly, trying to be respectful to the man…robot.

"_Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."_ Red Tornado said. _"But do not fear, you will all be tested soon enough, for the time being simply enjoy each others company."_

"This isn't a social club." Aqualad stated with a slight edge in his voice. He wanted to remain respectful but it had been over a week and they hadn't received a single mission. Speedy's words from the night before rang in his head. _"Your Junior Justice League is a joke, something to keep you busy, and in your place."_

"True, but I have been told that social interaction is important to team buildings, you must all trust each other. Perhaps you should all familiarize yourselves with the cave since it will be your new headquarters." Red Tornado responded.

"Dude you've only been here maybe three times in the last week, what is your job exactly?" Taskmaster asked, the robot rarely showed his face and never did anything, not to mention the fact that he was supposed to be their supervisor.

"_I am not your babysitter, your all adults that have been trusted to risk your lives on a daily basis in the fight against evil."_ Tornado responded. The answer shocked the team since it was rare that anyone refereed to them as adults_."I am merely here to maintain equipment. Although Batman did request that I watch the Taskmaster to ensure he doesn't do anything ill-advised that might destroy the cave. Batman refereed to something he called the 'Batmobile incident.'"_ With that said Tornado walked into the cave to do his daily maintenance on the electronics systems.

"Batman is blowing that incident way out of proportion; all I did was launch a missile at a computer and dent the car up a bit. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix." Taskmaster stated defensively.

The Team simply stood there on the grass not sure what to do now that they knew there wasn't a mission available, when suddenly Taskmasters PDA started beeping. He looked at it then turned to M'gann.

"Timer went off, the cookies are done." He stated in a bored tone.

The Martian girl nodded happily. "Thanks Taskmaster, I almost forgot about it them." She flew off into the cave and headed for the kitchen, leaving behind everyone else.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry, we might as well have some food." Taskmaster said as he ran after Megan, intent on getting some cookies for himself. Seeing that there was nothing else to do the others followed in after him.

Megan was currently pulling the cookies out of the oven using her telepathic powers and set them on the marble counter-top. They were perfect and smelled delicious, the others walked in and began seating themselves around the kitchen and making themselves comfortable.

"I was trying out a recipe I saw on television, I hope you guys like it." M'gann said happily.

"Thank you M'gann, this was very sweet of you, and their delicious." Aqualad said politely as he ate one of the cookies. M'gann blushed at the praise.

"Thanks Aqualad. But most of the credit goes to Taskmaster; he's been teaching me how to cook. Up until today I pretty much burned everything I tried to bake." She answered honestly.

"You don't have to be so formal, we are off duty. You may call me Kaldur'ahm, although my friends call me Kaldur for short." Kaldur said he then turned to his friends. "I suspect you are already well acquainted with both Taskmaster and Superboy since the three of you have lived together for the last week."

"My condolences no one should have to spend more than a few hours with TM." Robin said while ignoring his best friends glare. "I'm Robin, but you can just call me Rob. I'm a bit like TM since I don't share my secret identity, although he takes it a step farther by hiding his entire head." Robin finished while gesturing to Taskmasters mask.

"That is true; I haven't seen any bit of his skin, except for when he takes off his mouthpiece to eat." Megan said while looking at Taskmasters mask. "You guys already know I'm M'gann but you can call me Megan, it's an earth name."

Superboy was getting extremely bored with the introductions and was about to walk out of the room. M'gann saw this and linked up with him telepathically. _"Don't worry Superboy, we'll find you an earth name too."_

Superboy turned to her angrily. "I thought I told you to stop talking to me telepathically!"

Megan got scared and her expression turned apologetic. "I'm sorry! Everyone on mars communicates telepathically; I keep forgetting it's invasive to others."

Before Superboy could get angrier Taskmaster stood up. "Superboy sit your ass down and chill out, you need to stop blowing up whenever you get annoyed." He ordered, Superboy listened to him and sat down with his arms crossed. Taskmaster turned to Megan. "Megan we already had this conversation twice, your powers are invasive, especially to Superboy after his experiences with G-gnomes. I don't want this to happen again. Have I made myself clear to the both of you?"

"Yes Taskmaster." Superboy and M'gann said in unison.

The entire interaction shocked both Aqualad and Robin who were surprised that Taskmaster had been the one to calm the situation down.

"Wow I can't believe the guy who watches '_My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' _on a daily basis is now acting mature." Robin said while relaxing into his chair.

"What the hell are you talking about Rob? I don't watch that kiddy show." Taskmaster said. But he was thinking something very different. _"Crap he knows that I watch 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' …He must be destroyed…"_

"Perhaps we should all calm down and find an activity we can all take part in as a team." Kaldur suggested, everyone nodded their agreement and began brainstorming team building activities.

"I suggest we all do laser tag, with all of us on the same team we are guaranteed to win." Taskmaster suggested.

"No way. You always get way too competitive when we play laser tag, last time you made a twelve year old kid cry when you forced him to get on his knees so you could shoot him in the back of the head 'execution style'"." Robin responded.

"I totally kicked his ass." Taskmaster said under his breath.

M'gann suddenly had an idea. "I have an idea of something we could do, follow me." She said as she led the team through the cave, eventually they got to the Mount Justice hangar bay where there was a large red ship sitting in the center. "This is my bio-ship; I used it to come to earth."

"It's not very aerodynamic but it's cute." Robin said while observing the ship, the thing looked like a giant red egg.

"Taskmaster used the exact same wording when I showed it to him and Superboy. But it only looks like this because it's in rest mode." M'gann waved her hand and the ship began to morph into a more aerodynamic shape.

"Come-on in, we can give you an airborne tour of Happy Harbor in my bio-ship." She said as she led everyone into the bio-ship. The interior of the ship was a strange luminescent purple mixed with a indescribable red. Everything within the ship morphed to M'ganns whims. She summoned several seats that came out of the ships floor and she beckoned the team to take a seat. Everyone took their seats and Megan got in the pilot's seat and prepared for takeoff.

"Red Tornado, could you please open the hangar doors?" M'gann asked kindly over the ships comm. System. The hangar doors opened and the ship took off into the air, M'gann did a few barrel rolls and other aerial maneuvers to entertain the team until she settled for simply giving them a tour of Happy harbor.

Everybody was enjoying the ride and the view but M'gann seemed troubled. Taskmaster picked up on this and turned to her_. "Is something wrong Megan?"_ He whispered, trying not to draw the attention of the others. M'gann nodded and gestured for Taskmaster to remove his mouthpiece. Taskmaster understood and removed the mouthpiece from his mask; this created a breach in his masks defense and allowed M'gann to create a private psychic link between the two of them.

"_Superboy just doesn't seem to like me; he always gets so angry at me no matter what I do."_ She thought to him. Taskmaster shook his head; this was not something he wanted to have to talk with her about.

"_He does have a bit of a temper but I wouldn't take it personally. He has a lot of issues and baggage, heck the guy gets angry at me a lot to." _Taskmaster responded telepathically. _"Just avoid talking to him telepathically and continue being the nice person,He will come around eventually."_

"_I guess you're right. Thanks for the advice Taskmaster, you're a good friend. It's like I'm Grace and your Will from that sitcom 'Will and Grace'."_ She said to him mentally.

"_Yeah, except I'm not gay, I like girls."_ Taskmaster responded. Megan let out a small laugh and disconnected the two from their mental link. Taskmaster put the mouth piece back on his mask, effectively securing him from any telepathic attacks.

Robin was enjoying the view out the bio-ships window when a thought occurred to him. "Hey Miss M, how about showing us some Martian shape shifting?"

M'gann let go of the ships controls and began to change form, she turned into a female version of Robin. She then looked at Taskmaster and turned into a female version of him.

"Rule 63 eat your heart out." Taskmaster said when he saw himself as a woman. "I guess I'm hot no matter what gender I am. But I hope you realize you're not going to fool anyone with that particular disguise, my thighs aren't that nice." He said while pointing to M'ganns very womanlike thighs. A thought suddenly occurred to Taskmaster. "Where do your clothes go when you shape shift?"

M'gann resumed her normal shape. "Mimicking boys is a lot harder then mimicking girls and my clothes are organic and respond to my mental commands, allowing them to change with me."

"_Attention team."_ Red Tornadoes voice echoed over the comm, drawing the entire team's attention. _"An emergency Alert has been triggered at the Happy harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate covertly, I'm sending coordinates."_

M'gann immediately turned the bio-ship into the harbor and headed towards the power plant, she activated stealth mode so that the ship wouldn't draw attention.

"I hope this isn't just a false alarm meant to keep us busy." Robin said while looking out the window, in the direction of Happy harbors power plant.

"A simple fire led you all to Superboy." M'gann said while trying to create a positive atmosphere. "what do you think triggered the alarm?"

"Probably that large tornado coming right at us, you might want to serpentine!" Taskmaster yelled in a alarmed voice, the team looked out of the side window and saw a large twister heading straight for them. M'gann acted quickly and managed to get the bio-ship out of the twister's path. She landed the bio-ship in the power plants parking lot and the team exited the ship prepared to fight.

"How are you set up TM?" Robin asked as he slipped on his utility belt.

"I got nothing but my shield and my katana. Can you lend me some of your weapons?" Taskmaster asked, he didn't get a response so he turned to where Robin was and found the space where the Boy Wonder was standing to be empty. "Figures…"

"We need a plan!" Aqualad declared as he saw numerous twisters moving around the area. "And where did Robin go?"

"He was just here a second ago…" Megan said as she looked around. Suddenly they all heard the sound of Robins laughter in the air; it was coming from the direction of the power plant.

In the power plant Robin was getting smacked around like a rag doll. The second he had set foot into the power plant he had come under assault from a giant robot that was capable of creating twisters. He was lying on the ground after his last failed attack when the team ran in to aid him. Superboy landed next to Robin to see if the boy was okay. "Who's your new friend?" The clone asked.

"I didn't catch his name but he plays kind of rough." Robin answered as he picked himself up. The robot was giant and red, with two generators on his back.

"_My apologies for not introducing myself properly. My names Mister Twister." _

Superboy ran at the robot with the intention of turning it into scrap metal, but Mister Twister simply created two twisters and sent the clone flying backwards into a wall, effectively putting him out of the fight.

Aqualad and Miss Martian both attacked together in an attempt to take down Mister Twister using teamwork but Twister simply summoned two whirlwinds that flung Miss Martian into a pillar and Aqualad into a wall.

"_I was expecting to be challenged by a superhero; I was not however expecting children."_ Mister Twister declared as he stared down the only two remaining heroes. Taskmaster and Robin were standing next to each other ready to fight.

"We're not children!" He yelled as he hurled two birdarangs at the robot, but Twister simply flung the birdarangs away with his whirlwinds.

"_This is stupid, we need a better plan."_ Taskmaster thought to himself. In order to damage a giant robot they needed something even bigger and stronger to put a dent in it, also something that was fast enough to dodge the twisters. _"I've got it!"_ Taskmaster ran over to Miss Martian who was picking herself up.

"Miss Martian, I have a plan but I don't have time to explain it." Taskmaster said, he ripped off the mouthpiece of his mask. "I need you to read my mind and trust me, and then inform the others of my intentions."

M'gann nodded and read Taskmasters mind, she read what the plan was and shook her head. "Taskmaster there's no chance of that working there's no way-"

"No time, tell the others and get ready, I'll be back soon." He ordered as he ran out of the power plant, he put his mouthpiece back on his mask and ran back into the parking lot.

Miss Martian simply nodded and opened up a mental link with the entire team_. "I'm sorry to be doing this but it's important, Taskmaster has a plan, I'm implanting it into all of your heads now."_ She said over her mental link.

"Will that work?" Aqualad asked as he reviewed the plan in his head.

"Well if there's one person who can make a stupid plan work its Taskmaster. We have to get that guy outside and into the air." Robin declared. The others agreed and got into position.

"I find your presence here quite disturbing…" Twister declared as he looked around as if he was expecting someone. He turned to the young heroes and regarded them with minimal interest.

"Well we hate to see you so disturbed, let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!" Robin proclaimed loudly. Miss Martian used her telekinesis to blind Mister Twister by destroying a nearby steam valve, giving Superboy and Aqualad the distraction he needed to charge at the robot.

Mister Twister saw this and was about to create a whirlwind to stop the clone but before he could two birdarangs implanted themselves on his hands, they exploded causing the robot to stumble backwards. Before he could recover from the damage he sustained both Superboy and Aqualad simultaneously punched him in the chest, sending him crashing through the power plants wall.

Mister Twister ended up landing in the parking lot of the power plant. The robot picked himself up and used his abilities to hoist himself into the air. HE saw that the team of teenage heroes who had been bothering him enter the parking lot, he began charging up his powers for the final showdown.

"_Not bad for a bunch of sniveling brats. But now you've made me angry, so there will be no mercy for you."_ He charged up his powers and electricity cackled from the energy packs on his back. He extended his hands to the sky and created two large twisters from them. This was complemented with electricity from his energy packs that allowed Twister to create a large lighting storm.

"_You will regret the day you messed with me."_Twister declared to the teens. He was surprised when the heroes didn't run for cover or try to attack him; they were all just standing around with a bored expression etched on their faces.

"_What is the meaning of this?"_ Twister asked angrily. _"Why do you not run away in fear from my power?"_

Before any of them could answer Mister Twister was hit in the back by Miss Martians Bio-ship that was flying at speeds approaching the sound barrier. The impact smashed the power packs on mister Twisters back, with no power to generate his weapons he ended up falling to the ground; he landed roughly, his armor dented from the sheer force of the ship hitting him and his abrupt landing.

Inside the bio-ship Taskmaster was humming happily to himself as he turned the ship around to and landed it next to his friends. "Well that was easy; we really should use this ship for combat purposes more often." He said to himself. "It's a good thing I watched Megan pilot this thing so much or else I never would have been able to fly it." He fumbled with the awkward controls until he managed to land the ship next to his friends.

He exited the ship triumphantly. "And that is why I'm the very best like no one ever was!" He declared happily. He received several pats on the back and congratulations from his friends, but they all eventually had to turn their attention to the robot they had just disabled. Taskmaster walked up to Mister Twister who was lying on the ground completely immobilized.

The robots chest suddenly opened up revealing a small lanky man piloting it; he fell to the ground and looked up at the teens that had just beaten him.

"Foul! I call foul, you're not allowed to hit me with a ship, you were supposed to fight me normally!" The man said in a weak voice. Taskmaster narrowed his eyes at the man; he activated his masks thermal sensors and saw the man had no heat signature. Taskmaster drew his katana and prepared to strike.

"There can be only one!" Taskmaster yelled as used his katana to cut the man's head off.

"Dude what the hell are you doing!" Robin yelled, the rest of the team looked at Taskmaster with expressions of shock and horror.

"Chill out he's a robot." Taskmaster said while pointing to the electronics that were poking out of the neck of the man. Taskmaster picked up the head. "Now I have a nice souvenir." He shook the head and was amazed at how realistic it was. "I would never kill a real person, that's stupid even by my standards."

"Put that head away, the dead expression in its eyes is freaking me out." Megan stated as Taskmaster continued to play with it. The team investigated the robot but couldn't come up with any idea as to its motivations or why it was here, so they decided to take it back to the cave for study.

"Let's grab all the parts. Then we can and head back to the cave, Red Tornado is going to want to see this." Aqualad ordered, the team grabbed the rest of the man's robot body and the still intact Mister Twister mech suit and loaded them onto the bio-ship before heading back to Mount Justice.

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 18, 14:29 EDT**

"According to the memory core we found inside the head of the robotic man this thing was created to sabotage and reprogram you." Aqualad said to Red Tornado who was going over the remains of the android. The entire team was assembled around the work table where the beheaded scientist laid down, in the corner of the room as the damaged armor of Mister Twister.

"_Agreed, it is a good thing you managed to preserve the head, or else we might have never known the robots true intentions."_ Red Tornado stated as he went over the robots memory banks.

"Does this mean you're in danger?" M'gann asked. "If this robot was targeting you then that means whoever built it might send more."

"If that is the case then it is my problem." Red Tornado answered.

"But if you're in danger we should take precautions to-"

"_I do not expect you to solve my problems. So you can consider this matter closed."_ Red Tornado stated in a tone of finality, as he walked out of the room. That left the team standing around unsure of what to do with themselves.

"I think It is best if we head home, it is getting late." Aqualad said as he looked at a nearby clock. Both he and Robin began walking to their Zeta tubes to head back home.

"Speedy was so wrong, this whole team thing might work out after all." Robin said to Aqualad right before the two of them teleported out of the cave. This left only M'gann, Superboy and taskmaster in the room.

"Well I'm going to get dinner started" M'gann said as she flew off to the kitchen. Leaving behind only Superboy and Taskmaster.

"Hey Supes, can you take that mech suit down to my lab? I want to run a few tests on it." Taskmaster asked while pointing to Mister Twister's body. Superboy nodded and hoisted the large Metal suit up and began his trek to Taskmasters lab.

Taskmaster could barely contain his excitement.

"My very own mech suit…the possibilities are endless."

OoOoO

**Authors note**

That was a tough chapter to write, but now the team is assembled. I know many of you might say I cheated. But the truth is during the entire episode all I could think was "Why the hell don't you idiots just fly the ship into the robot?" Many of you might say the ship would be damaged badly, but as we've seen in the latest episodes of Young Justice Invasion, the Bio-ship can survive a nuclear explosion.

Some of you might say that Wally got over Megan to easily, but the truth is that living with someone can change your perspective on them. I had a huge crush on a girl in college then we ended up in the same dorm room. A week later the crush was gone and she was a total bro and she's one of my closest friends.I'm also surprised how well received my last chapter was. I even had a few people request that I make a WallyxTuppence story, I'm sorry but I'm not a good enough writer to write a story with a pairing that cracky. But I will promise you that Wally and Tuppence will meet chapter will be at debut all of Wally's new techniques and gadgets, as you may have guessed from certain scenes Wally is going to have a much bigger and more refined arsenal.

I would like to thank all my reviewers-Shenaniganskid, Soph, Malik, sumbunnyluvsu77, Squall Leonhart 501, Dextra2, DxS4ever,awriterofstories,dragonborn, ARW, WallyWestlover, anon,cary99,annagray,Irenerb,blackirishawk,Klimmat,lolmak,Hybrid301,Kiacoral.

Now for a new section of my authors note, Brenedictions comment corner! Here I will respond to all the questions put forth in my reviews.

Kiacoral- I never read the comic either and I can't find any scans online. I just winged it.

Hybrid301- Artemis will be making her first appearance in chapter 9- a long wait but I want to take my time with developing Wally.

Lolmak- I'm not a good writer, that's why I didn't write a southern accent for Tuppence. Also as mentioned in an earlier chapter Wally's mask makes his voice more robotic, which is why Tuppence couldn't tell it was him. Also Wally usually says educational facts; while Taskmaster says useless pop culture ones.

Blackirishawk- Men tend to fall for bad girls as often as girls fall for the bad boys. Wally is no different.

DxS4ever- There are some days where I want to delete this story since writing a story without Wally as Kid Flash is like making eggs without bacon. But I promised myself I would see this story through.

Squall leonhart 501- I love the Udon crews work. I hope I can live up to your high expectations, your making me feel pressured lol.

Sunnybunnyluvsu77- You got your wish, here is the team. Also the random facts I don't really look up, my brain is an encyclopedia of useless information.

Please read and review!


	8. DropZone

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice**

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 21, 17:03**

"Why the hell did you bring me here Wally?" Robin asked as he sat himself down on a chair in Wally's lab. The lab was in an even more disheveled state then it was last week. The room was filled with numerous devices, schematics, and trash that cluttered up every available surface, it was obvious Wally hadn't cleaned it in an eternity.

Wally turned to his best friend with a large excited smile plastered on his face. "I brought you here so that I can have a witness when I unveil my greatest creations, these new toys will change the way I fight crime." He stated proudly as he began rummaging through his armor locker.

"Right…no offense Wally but so far all I've seen you invent is a terrible tasting food, and weaponized lemons. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe inventing isn't your calling?" Robin responded in a joking manner.

"All the greatest minds in science had naysayers, like Doc Brown, Peter Venkman, Samantha Carter, and Seth Brundle." Wally said while pulling out a large metal box from his armor locker. He plopped the heavy box onto one of the tables in the lab. He opened it up and began laying out its contents onto the table.

"First off, all of the scientists you listed are fictional, and what the hell is all this stuff?" Robin asked as he began investigating Wally's latest inventions. He saw Wally take out a pair of gloves, two pistols, and a strange device that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

First Wally put on the gloves; they looked like his regular crime fighting gloves, except that they were black with bits of white armor on them. When he had them both on he held both his arms straight out in front of him.

"Activate claws." The second those words left Wally's lips both gloves were coated in orange energy, the same type of energy that usually formed his energy shield. Instead of a shield, the energy coated his gloves and out of his knuckles shot three twelve-inch claws on each of his hands, the claws were slightly curved like an animal's. "These are energy claws based off of Tekko-kagi, an ancient claw weapon used by Asian police in ancient times, very brutal but effective. These will allow me to use Cheetahs fighting style."

"You replaced your shield with claws?" Robin asked while getting a closer look at the claws.

"Not exactly" Wally answered.

"Activate shield." As Wally spoke those words the claws dispersed and his left glove created his signature circular hoplite energy shield.

"How on earth did you make those gloves?" Robin asked.

"My old shield generator technically wasn't a shield generator. It was a device designed to create constructs out of energy, the shield was simply the only form Bruce designed it to take." Wally answered. "So I simply programmed a few more forms for the energy to take and made it all voice activated, so really most of the credit goes to Bruce."

"How many types of weapons can you make with those gloves?" Robin asked, now genuinely curious.

Wally fumbled with the gloves a bit. "Only a few, I plan to program more, but right now they can create claws, a shield, and a crowbar for opening doors."He stated as he deactivated the energy shield.

"I also modified these gloves with Black Spiders web shooters, allowing them to fire adhesive webbing. In order to avoid misfiring the webbing I designed the glove to only shoot the webbing when I make this hand sign." Wally made the horned hand heavy-metal gesture, and a stream of webbing shot out and stuck to a nearby wall. "I can also refill the webbing using cartridges I store in my utility belt."

"Don't wear those to a concert or people will end up getting angry at you." Robin joked, he stared at the webbing intently, it seemed like only yesterday Black spider had them all wrapped up in that stuff. "What's the next item?"

Wally walked over to the next item in his invention lineup. Wally picked up the two pistols that were lying on the table; Robin instantly recognized them as the same ones Bricks thugs were using.

"I can tell by your expression you recognize these." Wally gestured to the pistols. "I made a few tweaks to them, now they shoot concussive energy rounds; it's like getting hit with a baseball flying at high speeds, and when they strike someone they shock that person, knocking them unconscious."

Robin shook his head. "So now you're using pistols? That's just plain wrong, criminals use pistols and their extremely dangerous." Robin stated, Wally knew his pistols idea wouldn't be well received but luckily he had a counter argument ready.

"And throwing extremely sharp exploding birarang's isn't dangerous?" Wally asked, before Robin could respond he decided to go on. "Outlaw uses pistols and he's a part of the Justice League."

"Fine." Robin said, he didn't want to have an argument about guns. "What's the last thing over there?" He asked while gesturing to the odd device Wally had at the end of the lineup.

Wally picked it up, and pushed a button on the side of the device. The second he did it unfolded into a large black bow. "I designed this when Speedy decided not to join us; it's based off one of Green arrows designs. It's the type of bow he wears on his person at all times. It's easy to conceal and unfolds in a heartbeat. I even made a bunch of trick arrows, so you can now consider me the teams long-range support member."

Robin simply marveled at the bow, he had seen Green Arrow pull a bow out of thin air, but he had no idea it could be so compact. "So what type of trick arrows have you made?"

Wally reached under the table and pulled out a black quiver full of arrows. "Regular arrows, blunt arrows, knockout gas arrows, foam arrows, and exploding arrows. The usual stuff."

Robin picked one of the exploding arrows out of the quiver and began investigating it. The arrow was black and very light. "What types of explosives are packed into these? C4, plastic, TNT?" Robin questioned.

"Lemon juice from my experiments." Wally chimed happily. "It's safe, highly explosive, and environmentally friendly."

Robin shook his head at his friend's antics. "All this is fine and good but how are you going to carry it all? Heck even I Batman doesn't carry this much equipment."

"I had to get rid of my freeze gun, grappling gun, and I had to uninstall the dart launcher from my gloves In order to fit the web shooter in there. But that's fine since the webbing can act as my new grappling gun and the webbing can even disable people by shooting it into their eyes or snaring them." Wally answered. "The gloves take up no room, the pistols are going to be put in holsters on my costumes thighs and the bow is small when it's folded up so it will be attached to the quiver on my back."

"Fine, whatever floats your boat." Robin answered. "Is all this stuff ready for tomorrow? Bruce said he has a mission planned for us."

Wally rubbed his chin thoughtfully." Well…there's no better way to test out new equipment then in the field, lab tests will only go so far." He stated as he put the equipment away into his armor locker.

Robin nodded. "So I'm guessing all this new equipment is the reason nobody's really seen you this last week?" He asked, he had heard from both Superboy and M'gann that Wally had barely come out of his lab, looking at all the new equipment he finally understood why.

"Yeah, it's really eaten into my social life." Wally answered. "I haven't seen the sun in days."

Robin laughed a little after hearing that."Maybe we could go to the mall, and I can watch you fail at picking up girls."

"Hopefully none of the girls you set me up with are Meta-human criminals." Wally joked.

Robin let out a small laugh, he then remembered something. "Apparently the Terror twins got out of jail shortly after we beat them."

"Did they escape?"

"Nope, they got out legally; apparently they got a hold of some good lawyers." Robin answered. "So now they're just stuck with a lot of community service, so now you can feel free to call Tuppence up for a date since she's no longer in jail." Robin joked; Wally on the other hand simply reached into his pocket and grabbed his wallet. He searched through his wallet until he found a piece of paper, the same piece Tuppence had given him at the mall several weeks ago. Robin saw the number and couldn't believe his eyes.

"You actually kept her number!" Robin yelled, amazed that his friend hadn't burned that thing yet.

"Well…yeah. She's one of the only girls to give me a number, so I kept it as a souvenir.

"You should put it on the souvenir shelf; it's a good trophy from our fight at the mall."

Wally nodded. "It will make a nice trophy, I'll put it on the shelf once I finish a few more adjustments to my weapons." Wally got up and began cleaning up his lab; he would need a clean work area if he was going to be able to work on his new weapons.

"Well I better get ready for tomorrow as well, hopefully our first mission will be a good one." Robin said as he hoisted himself up out of the chair he had been sitting in. "I'll see ya around Wall-man, be ready for the mission." He waved goodbye to his friend before finally leaving the lab.

Wally took the equipment back out of his armor locker and ran some diagnostics over it, he tightened anything that looked loose and triple checked everything to make sure it all worked. After two hours of continuous work he finally decided that everything was as good as it was going to get.

"What can I do now?" He asked himself as he looked around the lab. The only two projects he had left were his plants and the Mister Twister armor he was studying. Mister Twister's armor was lying in the back corner of his lab; he had barely touched it since he had gotten it.

"_It would take me a week just to take it apart and study it."_ He thought to himself. He decided the best course of action would be to get some sleep. It would do him no good to have all his new equipment ready and end up being too tired to use it. So he walked into his room and plopped down on his bed with the intent to get some shuteye. Fifteen minutes passed and he was still awake, his eyes were heavy but no matter how much he tried he just couldn't get comfortable. Since his mind was unable to surrender to sleep he decided to do something else, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Tuppence's phone number.

He just laid there on his bed and continued staring at the piece of paper clutched in his hand.

OoOoO

**Caribbean Sea, July 22, 20:08 ECT**

"Everybody ready?" Aqualad asked as he looked over the team. They were all about to deploy on their first real mission as a team, they were currently in M'ganns Bio-ship as it flew to Santa Prisca.

Robin and Taskmaster were both checking over their equipment. Robin was organizing his utility belt while Taskmaster was organizing all the equipment he was carrying. He had his utility belt, collapsible bow, a quiver full of trick arrows, both his pistols strapped to his thighs, his katana on his back, and his brad new gloves ready.

"Damn TM, you have enough firepower to take over a small country." Robin observed as he saw his friend fumbling with all his equipment. He could see that Taskmaster still had a good deal of mobility even with the equipment but it seemed very restricting to Robin. _"I could never do my acrobatics with all that stuff on."_

Taskmaster let out a small laugh in response. "I could probably take over Canada, as long as they didn't use their hockey skills against me." He grabbed the bow from his back and unfolded it to check if it was working, tonight was going to be the first night he used Green Arrows and Speedy's fighting styles, and that made him a bit nervous. After inspecting the bow he folded it back up and strapped it to the side of his quiver.

"Reaching drop zone A in thirty seconds." M'gann spoke up from the pilot's seat as she guided the Bio-ship over the Caribbean Sea. Aqualad stood up from his seat, the chair he was once sitting in dissolved away back into the ship. He activated his suits camouflage mode and checked over his water bearers. "I'm ready for deployment."

"I'm putting Bio-ship into camouflage mode." M'gann said as they entered Santa Prisca's air space. She opened up a hole in the floor the second they were in the drop zone, Aqualad dropped through and began his swim to the beach. HE swam through the dark and murky waters, dodging sea mines and fishing nets until he reached the sandy beach. He ran over to the sensors that were placed on the beach to act as targeting sensors for Antiaircraft missiles. He pulled out a cylindrical device and planted it in the machine, effectively hacking it in seconds.

"_Heat and motion sensors are patched, data is now on a continuous loop, move in."_ He said over the radio.

"_Roger that."_ M'gann responded as she flew the Bio-ship over Santa Prisca, she guided it over to their next drop zone and brought it to a stop over a small clearing. She got out of the pilots seat and telepathically told the ship to bring down several ropes that they could use to descend. The lines looked like purple tentacles as they descended from the ceiling.

"Why do I feel like I'm in a Japanese anime all of a sudden?" Taskmaster asked as he hooked the rope to his utility belt.

"It's because you are a very disturbed person TM." Robin responded as he hooked up his own rope to his utility belt. "Now get your head out of the gutter and put your outfits in stealth mode." Robin ordered.

Taskmaster hit the TM logo on the center of his chest-piece, this caused his usual dark blue jacket and armor to be black, even his white skull mask turned a dark grey. The only part of his costume that wasn't black or grey was his TM logo that had turned a dark red. "How cool is this?"He said while looking over himself and at his friends.

"Very cool." M'gann responded as she shape shifted her organic clothes into a new black outfit. She looked over at Superboy who was still wearing his normal everyday clothes. "Aren't you going to change into your stealth tech Superboy? I can create an organic privacy curtain for you.

"No capes. No tights. No offense." Was Superboys reply as he crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't want to look like a clown.

"It totally works for you…" M'gann said dreamily as she looked at Superboy with a dreamy expression on her face. She realized what she said and tried to clarify what she meant. "I mean…that you can totally do good work in those clothes." She said while giving Superboy a 'thumbs up'.

Superboy simply turned away from her to stare at a wall. M'gann put her hood over her head and entered camouflage mode, she was too embarrassed to look at anyone.

Taskmaster looked Superboy over. "Dude how can you say you're not into tights? Your pants are so tight I can tell what religion you are, ever heard of a cup?" He asked while gesturing to the boy's pants.

"You bought me these pants!" Superboy yelled as he looked down at his clothes. "In fact you picked this pair out specifically for me!"

"I bought them for when we pick up chicks, not for when we enter a potential combat zone." Taskmaster responded. "Megan could you bring up the equipment locker please?"

M'gann nodded and De-cloaked herself; she used her mental commands to bring up an organic equipment locker up out of the floor. Taskmaster walked over to it and grabbed a combat suit and threw it at Superboy. "It's a black version of your white solar suit, and it's heavily armored for heavy combat. So Suit up and get ready to kick some ass." Taskmaster stated to the clone who simply nodded.

"M'gann…could you bring up that privacy curtain you were talking about?"

M'gann waved her hand and brought up a dark curtain around Superboy. He quickly changed and the group got ready to descend.

Both Taskmaster and Robin used the ropes to descend out of the ship and to the ground while M'gann flew down to the ground. Superboy jumped out of the ship and landed roughly.

"I knew I didn't need a line." He said happily as he pulled himself out of the small crater he created with his rough landing.

"Creating a seismic event doesn't really help us with the covert part of our mission." Robin responded, the three boys quickly checked the area to make sure everything was secure while M'gann contacted Aqualad over the radio. _"Aqualad drop B is go."_

"_Head for the factory, ill track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."_Aqualad responded as he scaled a large cliff.

"Roger that." Robin responded as he checked his GPS to see what trail they should take to the factory. They finally settled for following a path deep in the jungle that led them past numerous waterfalls and cliffs. Taskmaster had his bow drawn with an arrow ready to be fired at a moment's notice, he was in front of the group and was acting as the groups scout. He looked though the entire forest using his thermal vision, tracking anything with a heat signature.

Superboy was using his super hearing to listen for anything suspicious when he heard a twig snap. "Guys I heard something." He said while running forward and trying to use his enhanced vision to see the source.

"Is this a super hearing thing?" Taskmaster asked as he scanned the area with his thermal vision.

"You do have great ears…" M'gann said dreamily as she gazed at Superboy.

Taskmaster shook his head at the way his friend was acting. "Megan you might want to put your tongue back in your mouth before it hits the ground." He stated while trying to see the source of the noise.

M'gann snapped out of her daydream and noticed something. "Guys where did Robin go?" She asked as she scanned the surrounding foliage. Taskmaster shook his head angrily and let out a tired sigh. "I hate it when he does that." He said to himself, he looked over to Superboy and M'gann. "I've worked with Robin long enough to know he wants us to disappear into the foliage so we should-"

His sentence was cut off when they heard gunfire coming from deeper in the forest, the three heroes tried to identify where the noise was coming from. Taskmaster ran forward and used his thermal vision; he saw two groups of people firing upon one another with guns. He activated his radio to inform the team.

"_We have two groups of people engaged in a gunfight."_

"_Steer clear! We need to stay covert, we can't risk getting involved." _Kaldur ordered over the radio.

Taskmaster shook his head. _"Like it or not we're heroes that means we save as many people as we can, even if that means blowing our cover." _Taskmaster stated over the radio.

"…_fine, split up and engage the groups, Ill rendezvous with you soon."_ Kaldur said as he ran over to where the rest of the team was. Taskmaster turned to his two teammates and began to devise a plan.

"Alright guys we need to stop both those squads from killing each other, Ill attack the one on the right with stealth and knockout gas." He turned to Superboy. "Supes, when I give you the signal run into the group on the left and draw their fire, you can easily shrug off any bullets they use. Megan you fly overhead while cloaked and catch any stragglers that try to run away." He received nods from both his teammates and he tried to get one the radio. _"Rob you there? If you can hear me join me in attacking the squad on the left."_

The group split up and snuck up on the groups that were firing on one another. Both sides were exchanging gunfire with no obvious winner. Taskmaster looked over the fight with his thermal vision and realized something. _"These guys aren't even hitting each other, and no one's been hurt. It's like a watching a gunfight between Imperial Stormtroopers and the Nazis from the Indiana Jones movies."_ He thought to himself.

Taskmaster settled down on a slope and took aim with his bow. _"Now" _He ordered over the radio as he let his arrow fly, it struck a stump where several of the men were taking cover and released a large cloud of knockout gas. The men that were caught in the cloud immediately passed out while the others opened fire on Taskmasters position.

The second Taskmaster had said 'Now' Superboy had jumped straight into the middle of the squad he was attacking. He immediately knocked aside several men who tried to attack him with gunfire, but he had simply shrugged off the bullets. He was about to attack the rest of them when a large man in a Luchador mask grabbed him from behind and pinned him to the ground. Superboy simply used his super strength to overpower the man; he grabbed the masked man by the shirt and threw him into a nearby tree knocking the man unconscious. Seeing their leader so easily dispatched the rest of the armed thugs surrendered to Superboy.

Taskmaster readied another arrow and shot it at the thugs who were shooting at him. The arrow exploded mid-flight, releasing a large net that captured the gunmen. Another thug was about to take aim and shoot Taskmaster but Robin descended from the tree tops and threw a birdarang that knocked the gun out of the man's hand. He then landed next to him and finished him with a vicious uppercut that knocked the man out.

"What happened to covert?" Robin questioned as he dodged the attack of another man before kicking him in the stomach and then knocking him unconscious with a karate chop to the face. "Why didn't you follow my lead and disappear into the jungle?"

"We couldn't just let these people kill each other; I also radioed you to tell you what we were doing." Taskmaster said as he pulled back on his bowstring and let another arrow fly, this one has a blunted tip and struck a man in the back of the head as he tried to run away from the fight. Taskmaster noticed another man trying to run away but before he could try and stop him, Aqualad walked out of the bushes and used his magic to electrocute the man.

Robin looked around and saw that the there was no one else left to fight. "I was maintaining radio silence." He said, defending his reason for not hearing the radio hail. "Now let's get these guys tied up."

After ten minutes of work the team managed to tie up every single criminal up and roped them around several trees in a clearing. With all their prisoners safe and sound, the team went about destroyed every single gun in the area, in case any of them managed to get loose. Soon the team was gathered and was discussing their next course of action.

"I recognize those outfits; these guys in red cloaks are part of the cult of the Kobra." Robin said as he observed several of the thugs.

Taskmaster nodded also recognizing the outfits. "And of course Kobra is spelled with a K, because poor literacy is Kewl." He joked as he walked around and inspected all the thugs.

"Batman didn't mention this; this must be a recent development. Clearly Kobra has taken over the facility and is creating venom themselves. We must inform the League of this at once." Aqualad stated as he pondered over the entire situation.

"No way, it's obvious Kobra is hoarding this stuff; we don't leave until I figure out why." Robin responded.

"With all due respect Robin, risking the team in such a way is ill-advised." Aqualad responded in a respectful but wary tone of voice. "Especially since you abandoned M'gann, Superboy, and Taskmaster earlier."

"What am I supposed to do, hold their hands through the entire mission?" Robin asked, the two then descended into an argument while Taskmaster, Superboy, and M'gann sat back watching.

"Do either of you two want to lead?' M'gann asked, both Superboy and Taskmaster shook their head. But Superboy turned to Taskmaster. "You should lead; you've been the one devising our strategies in these last few fights." Superboy said in reference to their fight at the mall, Mister Twister and the Kobra soldiers earlier.

"I was merely devising strategies, I had time to sit back and think. While a real leader has to be able to create plans while under fire. A leader must also be taken seriously at all times, do either of you take me seriously?" Taskmaster asked, both M'gann and Superboy shook their head.

"A leader must also be willing to make tough decisions and accept _responsibility_."Taskmaster practically spat out the word _responsibility. _"As far as I'm concerned there's only one logical choice for leader, only one person on our team is boring enough, serious enough, and has experience leading troops into battle." Taskmaster said while looking at Aqualad who was still fighting with Robin.

Suddenly his attention was brought to a particular prisoner. A man who was wearing a luchador mask , Taskmaster recognized him instantly, it was Bane. Bane was currently whispering to several of his men, and unaware of the masked hero listening in.

"Acaba con ellos, mientras que argumentan." One of the prisoners said to Bane. Bane let out a small laugh at the man's idiocy.

"Dejaré que luchar contra ellos, ellos me dan lo que quiero." He said, he noticed Taskmaster was walking over to him and decided to greet him. "Es un honor ser agraciados por el Capataz fuerza. Es raro que un hijo idiota de puta a ser en mi presencia."

"No burlarse de mí Bane, soy fluido en español. Ahora dime todo lo que quiero saber gran adicto a los esteroides tonto." Taskmaster said as he kneeled on the ground so that he was at eye level with Bane. He saw the man's eyes widen in surprise as he spoke Spanish. "Are you surprised Bane? I've taught myself numerous languages over the last few years, and Spanish is amongst the easiest to learn." He said as he looked into the man's eyes.

The rest of the team stopped what they were doing and walked over to see what Taskmaster was doing. They all flanked their fellow teammate and watched the exchange.

"I'm not surprised, even a monkey could learn my native tongue." Bane answered. "But since I have your attention I have a proposition. If you release me I can show you a top secret entrance to the factory that only I know."

Taskmasters response was to grab Banes mask and yank it off his head."You give us the location of the entrance and I give you your mask back." Taskmaster said, hoping to bargain with the man. Bane simply laughed in response. "I'm not as attached to that thing as you might think…no deal."

"I have other ways of getting information Bane; this is just a warm up." Taskmaster said in a dangerous tone.

"Are you threatening me pendejo?"

"I was taught never to make a threat unless you are prepared to carry it out and I am not a fan of carrying anything. Even watching other people carrying things makes me uncomfortable. Mainly because of the possibility they may ask me to help." Taskmaster said as he lost his train of thought.

M'gann pushed Taskmaster aside and knelt in front of Bane. "Its fine, I'll get the information the old fashioned way." She said as she created a mental link between her and Bane. Her eyes glowed but she felt herself blocked as he recited Spanish in his head.

"I'm not that easy chica, you have to make a deal with me first." Bane said as he continued to recite Spanish in his head.

"It's no use; he keeps reciting football scores and Espanola in his head. This could take awhile." M'gann stated sadly as she continued to mentally probe Bane.

"Hey Megan, can you read people's minds when their asleep?" Taskmaster asked suddenly, the question surprised the Martian but she nodded in response.

"Of course, people's minds are open to me when their asleep or unconscious." Was her answer.

"…That's interesting." The second those words left Taskmasters lips he quickly pulled out one of his pistols from his thigh holster and shot Bane in the head. The concussive energy bolt knocked the man out instantly and he slumped over unconscious. "There we go; I just saved us a lot of time…am I the only one who thinks of these things?"

Robin lunged at Taskmaster and tried to take the pistol away from him. "I knew letting you have a gun was a bad idea, now hand both of them over!" He ordered as he tried to reach the pistols that Taskmaster managed to keep out of reach.

"Dude these things only stun people, they couldn't harm a baby." Taskmaster said as he continued to keep the pistols just out of the Boy Wonders reach. "In fact Ill prove it right now, bring me a baby."

M'gann ignored the boy's antics and went about probing banes mind for the information on the secret entrance. She delved into his head and easily found the information now that the man was unconscious. "Alright guys I know where the entrance is."She said, which stopped the boys fight.

Robin stopped trying to take the pistols away from Taskmaster and began formulating plans in his head. "Okay we need to move out, we still have to identify the buyer for the venom and see what's going on."

"No." Taskmaster stated with authority, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I refuse to continue this mission until we have elected a leader. To continue this mission without a decided leader would be suicide, and I don't want to die like that."

"Tell me TM, how would you like to die?" Robin asked angrily, their first mission was already turning into a disaster and the last thing he wanted was Taskmaster disobeying orders.

"Having heart attack during a threesome on my hundredth birthday? I don't know! All I know is that I don't want to die on this God forsaken island because we couldn't decide on who is the team leader." Taskmaster responded.

Superboy stepped up. "He's right; unless we pick a team leader right now, I'm not continuing this mission either."

"Fine, how are we going to decide?" Robin asked as he gave into the team's demands. "If we are going by experience, I'm the best candidate; I've been doing this sort of stuff since I was nine."

"No one's denying your experience Rob, I've fought alongside both you and Batman on a regular basis." Taskmaster stated. "But I also know from that experience that you and Batman never talk, everything is unspoken. A team needs a leader who will communicate clearly; we need someone who has experience leading people into battle. That's why I believe we should choose Aqualad."

"Why me?" Aqualad asked, he knew this team needed a leader but he never anyone would want him to lead. He had only recently become a hero and his experience on the surface world was limited.

"It's a simple choice really. All Atlanteans begin mandatory military service at age twelve, so you have discipline, patience, and have military training. You also rallied together the Atlantean defense force when Ocean Master attacked your city two years ago, allowing Aqua-man enough time to recover and defeat Ocean Master. That is leadership!" Taskmaster said, drawing a surprised expression from the rest of the team.

"What did no one else read his bio? Am I the only person who reads the papers Batman hands out to us?"

Robin saw the sense in this and nodded. "He's right…you should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can."

"Then...I accept the burden, until you are ready to life it from my shoulders." Aqualad stated as he walked up to Robin and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Maybe not now, but soon, you're destined to lead this team someday." The two boys shared a moment of mutual respect, while M'gann and Superboy watched, both happy to get a leader.

Taskmaster had quickly gotten bored with the conversation and turned his attention to the unmasked Bane. He looked at the man's face and noticed something. "Without his mask Bane looks a lot like Tom Hardy, anyone else think so?" Taskmaster asked as he looked at the unmasked Luchador. He looked back at the team and realized they were all glaring at him.

"And just like that the magic of the moment is gone…thanks a lot TM." Robin stated in a sad voice, no one could kill the mood faster than his best friend.

"Regardless, we should get moving, we need to use Banes secret entrance and infiltrate the factory, and find out what they're doing." Aqualad ordered, the team nodded their agreement. M'gann led the way, using the information she pulled from banes head she managed to find the secret entrance with no trouble. It as located at the top of a small cliff overlooking a deep valley, from their location they could see the factory that lay within the valley. She used her telepathic powers to move the giant rock that was obscuring the entrance while Robin used a pair of binoculars to scout out the compound from their vantage point.

Robin saw numerous cultists roaming about the factory, many of them were armed with AK-47s. Some cultists were also using forklifts to move large crates full of venom to a particular clearing with a helipad. He took in the landscape and noticed it was mostly flat, the only two distinguishing features were the factory and a tall water tower in the corner of the area. "It looks like there's going to be a delivery going down tonight."

"Agreed." Kaldur stated as he took in the landscape himself and began formulating a plan.

"Want some fruit by the foot?" Taskmaster offered both of them the roll he was eating while he looked at the complex through his masks enhanced vision. "Eating some always helps me formulate plans."

"No." Both Kaldur and Robin chimed together.

"Its fruity triple-berry." He offered while taking another bite out of it. "All food should come in roll-up form. Imagine how awesome pizza by the foot would be…"

Kaldur ignored his teammate and formulated a plan. "Taskmaster you're good at stealth and long ranged support so I want you to scale down this cliff and climb to the top of the water tower at the corner of the complex." He pointed to the large tower made of metal in the corner of large field "Call out anything you see and be quiet, this is still a covert mission. M'gann will also go with you." He turned to M'gann. "Stay cloaked and scout the area, don't allow yourself to be seen for any reason. " M'gann nodded.

Aqualad turned to Superboy and Robin. "The rest of us will take the secret passage into the factory. We extract any useful Intel we can and wait to see who the buyer is. Does everyone understand?"

Every member of the team nodded. Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin went through the secret entrance that would take them to the factory, leaving M'gann and Taskmaster alone.

Taskmaster looked down the Cliff-side and saw it would be a long climb down. "Hey Megan, could you give a guy a quick lift?" He asked, turning to the Martian girl. She nodded and picked Taskmaster up Bridal style, before he was able to protest to the way he was being carried the green girl was already flying them down the Cliff-side.

"M'gann?"

"Yes Taskmaster?"

"Never tell anyone about this…especially Robin, if he figures out I was carried down a Cliff-side like a bride on her wedding night, he'll never let me live it down." Taskmaster said as the girl flew the both of them down the Cliff-side.

"Sure, my lips are sealed." She responded happily.

Since the two of them were alone he decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for a long time. "Since we are alone together, there's a question I've been meaning to ask, do you have any sisters?" He asked. _"Any hot sisters…" _He thought to himself.

"Yes I do." She said as she flew behind several large trees and rocks, trying to hide their descent. "I have twelve sisters and seventeen brothers, and an extended family of three hundred cousins." She said happily as she neared the wooded ground at the bottom of the cliff.

_"Score!"_ Taskmaster thought to himself. "Maybe you should introduce me to them sometime; I'd love to get to know your sist- I mean you family." He quickly corrected. A thought suddenly occurred to him. _"Twelve sisters and seventeen brothers, and an extended family of three hundred cousins, Martians must breed like rabbits...I hope Superboy likes kids."_

They finally reached the bottom of the cliff; M'gann dropped Taskmaster to the ground. M'gann flew off while invisible to scout out the area while Taskmaster began to carefully sneak up on the water tower. He carefully and slowly sneaked through the foliage until he reached the perimeter of the complex. The area was mostly bare, the only large building being the factory itself. He hid in the bushes as a squad of cultists passed by. Once they were gone he advanced to the guard tower, he looked around and saw that there was no patrols around.

He began to climb up the ladder that led to the top of the metal tower. He managed to reach the top without being seen but there was a guard stationed, the man looked bored and was holding his AK-47 in a very unprofessional manner. The second he managed to get off of the ladder he began to sneak up on the man. The guard was looking over the edge of the tower with a bored expression. Taskmaster snuck up behind him and put him in a sleeper hold. He used one arm to choke the man while he used his other hand to cover the guard's mouth and nose, effectively silencing him. The man struggled helplessly but eventually he succumbed to unconsciousness and Taskmaster gently lowered him to the floor.

Taskmaster quickly took off the man's red cloak and threw it over his own shoulders. _"Not a perfect disguise but from a distance it will still look like this tower is occupied by a cult member." _He thought to himself as he unfolded his bow and prepared for the battle that he knew was coming.

_"Aqualad I'm in position and can see the entire complex from here, what are your orders?"_ He asked over the radio.

The rest of the team had managed to infiltrate the facility easily using Banes secret entrance. They had managed to sneak into the control room without being seen, the only guard they had encountered was lying unconscious on the control room floor. Superboy guarded the door to the control room while Kaldur and Robin hacked into the facilities files.

Aqualad heard Taskmasters status update over the radio. _"Just keep an eye out for any developments related to our mystery buyer, or any unusual troop movements."_ Kaldur ordered.

_"Roger that."_ Taskmaster responded.

Robin finished hacking into Kobras files and brought up the Intel they wanted. "Ive found some chemical formulas, I'm guessing it involves venom but…oh god" Robin said as he looked over the files on the computer.

"What is it Robin?" Aqualad asked as he peered over the younger boys shoulder.

"Its…Blockbuster formula from Cadmus, Kobra is apparently mixing it with Venom." Robin said. "The combination makes venom three times stronger and permanent."

"How did Kobra get access to project Blockbuster?" Aqualad asked as he scanned over the files himself, still not quite believing what he was seeing.

"Kobras buyer must also be Kobras supplier!" Robin reasoned. "They must be using the cult to create a Blockbuster/Venom super formula."

Aqualad activated his radio. _"Taskmaster, M'gann, what's the situation outside?"_

_"I've been scouting the entire complex; I count at least fifty guards, in addition to any that are already patrolling the island."_ M'gann said over the radio as she continued to fly around the area.

Taskmaster looked around the complex from his vantage point in the watchtower and didn't see anything suspicious until his eyes landed on three particular individuals. One was a young girl who dressed like a punk rocker; it was Shimmer and her brother Mammoth, who looked like a large hulking monster. The final figure was a pale but big man, it was Kobra himself, and they were all waiting at the helipad.

_"I see three people of interest. The first two are Shimmer and Mammoth."_ Taskmaster reported over the radio.

"Friends of yours?" Kaldur asked.

_"You could say that, we had a run-in a year ago. Shimmer looks the same, but Mammoth…back when I knew him he was a scrawny guy who used venom during fights to enhance his strength. Now he looks like some horrible monster."_Taskmaster said as he looked at the two through his masks enhanced vision.

_"Who's the third person?"_

_"Kobra himself in all his pale glory, guy looks like Lord Voldemort if he got a gym membership"_ Taskmaster answered; suddenly the sound of whirring blade caught his attention. _"We got a helicopter incoming, has to be the buyer."_

Taskmaster looked up at the helicopter and watched as it landed, he kept his bow trained on it the entire time, with an exploding arrow ready to fly. He watched as the helicopter landed and a single man walked out of it, but from the angle he was at Taskmaster couldn't see his face.

_"M'gann, I can't see the buyers face. You have to use your invisibility to sneak up on him."_ Taskmaster said over the radio. M'gann heard the command and carefully flew over to where the exchange was occurring. She knew her natural cloaking would keep her safe but over mess up and she was dead. She saw the buyer, a strange man in a hockey mask.

The masked man walked up to Kobra."Lord Kobra." He greeted politely.

"Sportsmaster." Kobra greeted back. "The shipment is ready." He gestured to Shimmer who held out a open box full of vials.

"The new Kobra venom?" Sportsmaster questioned as he picked a vial out of the box and peered at it with a suspicious eye.

"A complete success, our mutual friend will not be disappointed." Kobra said as he gestured to Mammoth who was a living embodiment of the venom's success.

"This is a game changer; we can now fight on equal ground with the Justice League." Sportsmaster said, almost unable to contain his excitement, completely unaware that M'gann was listening to everything that was being said.

_"Kaldur I'm sending you a mental picture of the buyer."_ She said over a telepathic link with her leader. She continued to watch h exchange to get any useful information.

Kaldur received the image and his eyes widened. "Sportsmaster…" He said in a calm but concerned voice. "We must radio the League." He tried to activate his radio but all he received was static. _"Long range communication is down, looks like we have to stop the shipment on our own."_ Kaldur said angrily, this was supposed to be a covert mission but it was turning into a combat one. He looked around the factory and saw the numerous large water coolant tanks that were used in the creation of venom and he quickly devised a combat plan.

_"Superboy, Robin, and I will create a large distraction in here. Taskmaster you will fire upon the Kobra forces from your vantage point and create chaos, while M'gann uses her powers to stealthily attack Kobra troops. All this happening at once will be enough to disorient the enemy and give us the edge we need."_ Kaldur said over the radio. The rest of the team gave their approval and they set the plan in motion.

The deal was continuing normally, Sportsmaster and Kobra were both waiting as the last of the Kobra venom shipment was being loaded into the helicopter, when the quiet of the night was shattered by the factory's alarm going off.

"Mammoth, investigate the factory, we cannot afford to have anything ruin tonight's operation." ordered Kobra. Mammoth complied and ran through the factory's main entrance with twenty guards flanking him. Mammoth looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, the only odd thing was the factories alarm system that was creating a loud noise and bathing the entire factory in a red light. One of the factory's workers ran up to him, the man reeked of fear.

"What is the meaning of this alarm?" asked Mammoth in an impatient tone of voice. The worker cowered and tried his best to find his voice.

"My apologies, but we cannot find the source, our men in the control room are not responding and the few staff members we had are all outside loading the venom into the helicopter." The man said nervously.

Mammoth was about to pummel the man for his idiocy but he was stopped when every single water tank, valve, and pipe in the facility began shaking. I felt the factory was experiencing a earthquake, eventually every single pipe and container burst, flooding the entire complex with a torrent of water. Several Kobra cultists lost their footing and fell but many others managed to stand their ground, by the time the water receded every single one of them was soaked to the bone.

Aqualad leapt out of the shadows and slammed his hand onto the soaked ground. He activated his magic and sent an electrical shock through the water, causing everyone who was wet to be electrocuted. All of the Kobra cultists were unconscious in seconds, Aqualad stopped his electric spell and saw that the only person left standing was Mammoth, but even he was breathing heavily and seemed to have a hard time standing.

Before Mammoth could recover he was punched in the face by Superboy who had run out of the shadows the second Aqualad had finished his spell. Mammoth flew backwards out of the factory's doors and landed next to Kobra, who looked down at his servant angrily.

The second Taskmaster saw Mammoth flying out of the entrance to the factory he threw off the Kobra cultist cloak he was wearing as a disguise. Then in a single fluid motion he pulled arrow from his quiver and shot it at his first target. The arrow was aimed at Kobras head and it was about to meet its mark until Kobra caught the arrow in one swift motion, right before it could hit him.

Kobra looked at the arrow clutched in his hand with an impassive face. "It is pointless to try and kill a God, I am-" his statement was cut short when the arrow he had just caught exploded. The explosion sent Kobra flying backwards until he fell to the ground, clutching his hand in pain.

"Even a God can bleed." Taskmaster said as he fired several volleys of exploding arrows into the courtyard. Each arrow caused a massive explosion that sent cultists running for cover. The chaos was enough to give Kaldur and Superboy the opportunity to enter the courtyard without coming under enemy fire; soon the heroes were engaged in a heated battle.

Kobra picked himself off the ground while nursing his damaged hand. "Sportsmaster, deal with that archer in the tower." He ordered, the masked man nodded and ran off to the tower. Kobra was about to leave to get some medical attention when Robin suddenly appeared before him.

"Hey there Koby!" Robin greeted happily. "You're not looking so good; it looks like you tried to catch an exploding arrow."

Kobra narrowed his eyes angrily; he threw off his red cloak and prepared himself for the fight.

"Wow, never thought I would see they day where you would actually get your hands dirty." Robin said as he got into his own fighting stance.

"Even a God must sometimes conquer."

Robin ran at the man and tried to deliver a swift kick to his face, but Kobra simply used his one good hand to block the attack. He then punched the Boy Wonder in the chest and sent him flying backwards.

"You seem disconcerted." Kobra said in a condescending tone. Before the man could say anything else he felt another arrow strike him in the back. The arrow released high-density polyurethane foam, entrapping the 'God' in a foam prison.

_"You owe me one."_ Taskmaster said over the radio.

Robin let out a small laugh. _"I had in under control."_ He responded as he picked himself up off the ground. He turned his attention back to Kobra who was struggling to free himself. "I have to help my friends beat up the rest of your cult members, but I'll be back." Robin turned around only to be struck in the face by Shimmer, who had snuck up on him.

"Don't worry my Lord, Ill beat this child and free you." She said to Kobra as she entered a fighting stance. Before she could attack Robin she was suddenly lifted into the air and flung into a nearby wall, where she was knocked unconscious. M'gann De-cloaked and looked at Robin.

"We better go help Superboy and Kaldur clean up the rest of this mess." She said as she looked over to where their other two teammates were fighting. Superboy was wrestling with mammoth, and from the looks of things the Clone was winning. At the same time Kaldur was using his water weapons to take out the numerous cultists that were still attacking. Robin nodded and the two of them ran over to aid their fellow teammates in battle.

Taskmaster was still providing range support from the tower. He shot another arrow with a blunted tip that struck a cultist that was about to shoot Aqualad in the back. He then reached for his last arrow; it was a foam arrow that he intended to shoot Mammoth with the second he could get a clear shot.

He never got to take that shot because an explosion shook the entire water tower. The sound of the metal creaking and bending beneath him made him realize the tower was going to fall. He saw that there wasn't enough time to climb down so he ran to the edge and shot his last foam arrow at the ground. The arrow hit the ground and released a large amount of foam, creating a large soft surface. He grabbed the unconscious guard that was still on the floor next to him; with the unconscious man in tow he jumped off the tower and landed softly on the foam.

He left the guard on the foam cushion and jumped off. He folded his bow back up and threw away his quiver, since there was no point in carrying dead weight.

He looked at the water tower he had just been using as his sniping platform, it began to creak until it finally collapsed and released a large wave of water that coated the area.

"What caused it to collapse?" Taskmaster wondered out loud, he then heard the sound of something flying at him and quickly ducked. A javelin flew over him where his head had been seconds before. The Javelin impaled itself into the ground behind him and exploded.

Taskmaster looked at the person who threw the javelin; it was Sportsmaster who was readying another javelin from his belt.

"Pretty good shooting kid." Sportsmaster said. "So who are you supposed to be? I don't think I've seen you around."

"My names Taskmaster, and I just want to be the very best like no one ever was."Taskmaster stated as he activated his energy shield and got into a combat stance.

"So what are you powers supposed to be?"Sportsmaster asked.

"I can make minute rice in 58 seconds." Taskmaster proclaimed proudly.

"Okay...lets just fight" Sportmaster said as he grabbed a small device out of his belt, with the push of a button it became a javelin that he threw at Taskmaster who blocked it with his energy shield. The Javelin exploded on impact and the shield absorbed the energy of the explosion. Without hesitating Taskmaster threw his shield at Sportsmaster who simply ducked under it.

Taskmaster smirked under his mask; this was going to be a good fight.

"Let's start this off easy."

_"Batman"_ He entered Batman's fighting stance and sprang forward launching himself into a sweeping kick. Sportmaster leapt over the kick and attempted to deliver a punch to the younger boys face, but Taskmaster blocked it with both his arms.

Taskmaster growled as he threw himself at Sportsmaster aiming his right fist at his midsection. Sportsmaster prepared to block the blow but it was a trick all along. Taskmaster swiftly pulled back his arm as he sent his left fist into Sportsmasters face, earning a grunt from the older man and sent him sprawling

Sportsmaster quickly recovered and went on the attack. He threw a left hook, and Taskmaster was able to evade it. But Taskmaster didn't expect was the spinning backfist that followed immediately after the punch in the same fluid motion. Sportsmasters blow struck Taskmaster in the face and sent him reeling backwards. Sportsmasters relentless assault continued as the man sent a kick thundering into Taskmasters abdomen and another punch to the face knocking him to his back.

Taskmaster pushed himself to his feet he quickly leapt away and grabbed two shurikens from his belt and threw them at the older man. Sportsmaster dodged them and reached into his own belt and grabbed a heavy metal ball attached to a cord and handle.

Sportsmaster began swinging it around as if it were a flail; he swung it at Taskmaster who had managed to avoid it by mere inches. The Metal ball had impacted the ground, leaving a big crater, but Taskmaster noticed how unwieldy it was and how long it took for the man to reel it in. _"That weapons mainly for intimidation, It's simply too unwieldy for extended combat use." _He thought to himself.

_"Cheetah_" He activated his energy claws and got into cheetahs fighting stance. He crouched low like a cat waiting to pounce and prepared for the man's next strike. Sportsmaster swung the metal ball at Taskmaster once again in a sideways motion. Taskmaster ducked under the swipe and in a single swift motion used his energy claws to cut the chain that was attached to the ball; as a result the ball flew off and landed several meters away from them.

Before Sportsmaster could recover from having his weapon disabled Taskmaster lunged at the man the same way a predator would lunge at their prey. He swiped at the man's head but all he managed to do was scratch the man's hockey mask with his claws, leaving behind three large diagonal claw marks. Sportsmaster leapt back and grabbed a discus from his belt and threw it at Taskmaster with Olympic level precision.

_"Wonder Woman"_ Taskmaster deactivated his claws and activated his energy shield. He used his shield to easily deflect the discus, the disc exploded but the shield absorbed the impact easily. Without hesitating Taskmaster threw the shield at Sportsmasters head, the man managed to move out of the way in time so that the shield only managed to clip his shoulder.

"No more games kid, I'm going to show you how a real man fights." Sportsmaster unsheathed a Saber, a sword traditionally used in fencing. "I'm going to run you through with this."

_"Deathstroke the Terminator."_ Taskmaster drew his katana from it's sheathe on his back. He felt the sword grip in his hand; the leather was a comfortable feeling now. His weapon had become an extension of his arm now, it moved with such fluid motion that all he had to do was imagine what he wanted to do and it did it. He twirled his sword and charged; he leapt at Sportsmaster and attempted to bring his sword down on the man's shoulder area. But Sportsmaster simply sidestepped him and swung his saber at Taskmaster who had to leap away to dodge the attack.

_"This is going nowhere fast…I need to bring out my deadliest weapon."_

"So Sportsmaster, who makes your clothes?" Taskmaster asked as he swiped at the man with his katana, Sportsmaster parried the attacked and attempted to stab the teen hero but he failed due to the distraction.

"What?"

"Just wondering who makes your clothes, you must really love Halloween. Either that or you love looking like a Metro sexual version of Jason Voorhees."

Sportsmaster angrily lunged at Taskmaster but the boy sidestepped him and delivered a small but swift swipe, Sportsmaster managed to dodge the attack but it tore off a piece of this chest armor.

Taskmaster saw the man was getting frustrated so he continued with his talking. "What are your hobbies Sportsy? Because I enjoy collecting and swapping unicorn figurines online. " He dodged a swipe from the older man's sword and retaliated with a kick to the man's gut that sent him stumbling backwards. "I love unicorns. I think it is very sad that we allowed them to become extinct. Man is a selfish animal sometimes. We could have shared the world with them, but instead we hunted them as used their horns as aphrodisiacs."

"Shut the hell up you and fight!" Sportsmaster yelled as he brought his saber down on as hard as he could. Taskmaster blocked it with his blade but Sportsmaster was forcing his entire weight and strength behind the sword causing Taskmaster to lose ground.

_"He's getting angry."_ Taskmaster thought, he decided to continue with his plan. "Once when I was out dancing, I met some guys who were going to get tattoos, so I joined them and got a unicorn on my chest. It has a rainbow-colored horn, which I was told symbolizes intelligence and beauty, so that is appropriate for me."

Sportsmaster pulled back and swung again, Taskmaster deflected the bow with his katana causing the older man to stumble backwards. Taskmaster saw his opportunity and acted upon it.

_"Black Spider"_ He quickly shot webbing from his left gauntlet, the streak of webbing wrapped around the hilt of Sportsmasters sword. In one quick motion Taskmaster pulled his left arm back and yanked the web line backwards, which pulled his opponents sword with hit.

The now disarmed Sportsmaster looked around and saw an AK-47 on the ground that had been dropped by a cultist. Before Taskmaster had a chance to stop him Sportsmaster leapt towards where the rifle was and grabbed it.

The masked villain jumped out of cover and opened fire on Taskmaster. Taskmaster quickly activated his shield and brought it up just in time to stop a hail of bullets as Sportsmaster open fired.

Sportsmaster began walking slowly towards the helicopter as he kept up a steady stream of fire. _"Just gotta _keep_ him busy until I can leave this place."_ He thought as he continued walking towards the chopper. Taskmaster was following slowly but he had to couch and keep his shield up at all times, lest he risk a bullet to the legs.

_"He's heading for the chopper"_ Taskmaster thought angrily as he tried to follow the man at a faster pace, but any time he tried to get out of his crouching position he risked a bullet hitting his exposed appendages. So he simply kept his shield up and hoped Sportsmaster ran out of bullets.

M'gann used her telepathic powers to throw several more cultists away from Kaldur and Robin who were both fighting several guards. She looked over to Superboy who was continuing his fight with Mammoth. She was about to fly to his aid when she noticed Taskmaster pinned down by Sportsmaster. She cloaked herself and flew at Sportsmaster, intent to take the man down. But she underestimated the man's senses. He heard her coming and dodged her attack; he quickly grabbed her with his one free arm and held her up against his body in a choke hold, making her a human shield.

"Well if it isn't the little Martian, nice try but sneaking up on me isn't so easy." HE said as he tightened his grip on the girl's throat.

"Let Megan go right now Sportsmaster!" Taskmaster ordered as he tried to get closer to the two of them.

Sportsmaster ignored him and continued walking backwards with M'gann locked in a death grip. The girl was struggling but she couldn't break the older man's hold. Once he was in the chopper Sportsmaster threw the girl at Taskmaster. The teen managed to catch his Martian friend but the force of her hitting him caused him to fall to the ground with her in his arms.

Taskmaster pushed M'gann off of him and quickly checked to see if she was okay. She was coughing due to Sportsmaster choking her but she appeared to be physically fine. He wanted to stay and make sure she was okay but he had to act quickly. He turned his attention back to Sportsmaster who had managed to start the helicopters takeoff sequence while he had been busy checking over M'gann.

As the chopper began to lift off the ground Taskmaster pulled out both his pistols from their holsters.

_"Deadshot"_ He aimed his pistols at the Choppers engines and opened fired on them. He managed to leave several dents in the metal, but it was obvious his pistols weren't doing enough damage. _"Damn thing is military grade; it could probably take a shot from a RPG and still fly…"_

Seeing no other option Taskmaster ran as fast as he could at the now ascending helicopter and jumped into the air at it. He managed to catch the edge of the helicopters open back door. He held on with all his strength as the chopper ascended into the sky. _"If I lose my grip now I'm as good as dead."_ He thought as he looked at the earth below him as it got farther away. _"I hope the others are doing better than I am."_

Superboy threw Mammoth against a tree and watched as Kaldur summoned a stream of water that hit Mammoth in the chest. The Atlantean then channeled electricity through the water, shocking Mammoth into unconsciousness. With Mammoth out of the way Superboy looked around and saw that every single cultist was either tied up or unconscious.

Superboy looked over to the helipad and noticed M'gann lying on the ground, nursing her arm. He felt a sense of dread wash over him as he ran over to her to check and see if she was alright.

"M'gann what happened?" He asked as she helped her stand up.

"Sportsmaster chocked me, I'll be fine once I regain my breathe…" She managed to gasp out as she nursed her neck, there was definitely going to be bruises on it tomorrow. "But you need to help Taskmaster, he's on the helicopter."

Superboy looked over into the distance and used his enhanced vision to zoom in on the helicopter that was flying away, he saw his friend holding onto the back of the chopper trying not to fall off.

"That idiot."

Taskmaster finally managed to crawl into the helicopter. He walked through the main hangar bay and noticed it was filled with crates of Kobra venom.

_"I have to destroy this entire shipment of product_." He thought to himself as he pulled out one of his pistols. He held the gun in front of him ready to shoot anything that moved. He activated his masks thermal sensors, he saw that the only people on the helicopter were Sportsmaster and himself, and the man seemed unaware that he was on board.

Taskmaster looked around and saw a storage locker; he opened it up and found several parachutes. _"If I destroy this helicopter I'm going to need an escape plan." _He thought to himself as he put one of the parachutes on.

Satisfied with his new plan, he walked up to the cockpit and aimed the gun straight at Sportsmasters head.

"What up Buttercup?"

Sportsmaster turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw Taskmaster in the cockpit with a gun pointed at him.

"You didn't think you would get rid of me that easily did ya?" He asked as he continued to point the gun as the older man's head. "I'm like Team Rocket, you can defeat me every episode but I'll always be back with another crazy plan."

"If you shoot me we will both die." Sportsmaster said as he continued to pilot the chopper, he wanted to attack the irritating teen hero but he couldn't leave the controls for a second. " This helicopter doesn't have autopilot, so unless you know how to fly this thing you're screwed. Now hand over the gun."

Taskmaster shrugged. "I'm not going to shoot you. That would be stupid." He pointed his gun at the helicopters controls. "I'm just going to shoot the controls."

"That's the dumbest plan ever; it'll bring this chopper down and both of us with it!"

Taskmaster let out a small laugh. "Let me tell you something Sportsy. My life has been nothing but a bunch of 'It seemed like a good idea at the time' strung together." He pointed his gun at the console and it glowed as it began to charge up a strong energy round.

"You're bluffing, not even you're stupid enough to do that." Sportsmaster said as he continued to pilot the helicopter.

"Challenge accepted."

Taskmaster fired three powerful energy rounds directly into the helicopters controls causing the controls to burst into flames. The second he finished firing the rounds he ran away into the helicopters cargo hold and prepared to jump, he looked back and saw Sportsmaster run out of the cockpit and put on his own parachute.

"Well…it's been fun." Taskmaster said right before he jumped out of the chopper. He felt a cool rush of night air hit his body as he fell from the sky, he saw the earth was fast approaching and pulled the cord that activated his parachute. He looked up and saw Sportsmaster drifting far away, he was half tempted to try and follow the man but he knew the man would be gone by the time he landed.

He felt looked down to the wooded area he was descending in and tried to guide himself into a open clearing, but the truth was that Santa Prisca was mostly jungle and he couldn't find a perfectly open area to land.

"Crap, I didn't think this through!" He yelled as he guided himself into a forested area. He ended up hitting numerous branches as he descended towards the earth, the branches hit him and cut out patches in his costume until eventually his chute got stuck in a tree, leaving him hanging.

"Owww…." He said as he hung from his chute, his descent through the treetops left him with several scratches and bruises. "I think one of those branches hit me in the balls…I might throw up…"

After several minutes of hanging in the tree he managed to get over the pain he was feeling and attempt to get out.

He couldn't reach any other branches so he settled for cutting himself loose from the parachute. He pulled out his butterfly knife from its holster and cut all of the ropes holding him up. This caused him to fall to the earth, where he landed safely. He activated his radio to contact his friends.

_"Anybody hear me? This is Taskmaster requesting immediate aid."_ He asked over the radio.

_"Was the shipment stopped?"_ Aqualads voice responded.

_"Shipment was stopped, but Sportsmaster managed to escape, I'm currently stuck in the middle of nowhere and need extraction."_

_"We have a lock on your signal; we will be there as soon as we finish up here, we've captured most of the cultists but Kobra himself managed to escape."_

Taskmaster let out an aggravated sigh, and began to wonder how Kobra could have escaped his foam prison, but in the end he really didn't care. The mission was an overall success and nothing else mattered.

"I wonder what our next missions going to be…"

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, July 23, 10:01 EDT**

The Team returned to Mount Justice and they were immediately debriefed by Batman. All of the Team stood in a straight line at attention while Batman lectured them, except Taskmaster who was sitting on a stool while Black Canary tended to the numerous cuts and bruises he had received during his fight with Sportsmaster and his escape from the helicopter.

"It was supposed to be a simple recon mission." Batman said in a stern voice that was holding back anger. "You will each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes." Every member of the team had their eyes focused on the floor, unable to meet the man's gaze.

"Also…you all did a damn good job."

That statement shocked the team, it wasn't often Batman complimented anyone. Especially after he had spent the last several minutes lecturing them.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust as a team is what determines success." HE said as he walked up to Kaldur. "And how you choose who leads determines character."

Batman turned around and left the room, leaving behind a stunned group of teenagers.

'You should all go get some rest." Black Canary said as she continued patching up Taskmaster. Everyone followed her advice, Kaldur and Robin left to go to their homes while M'gann and Superboy walked off into their rooms, leaving only Canary and Taskmaster.

"What the hell were you thinking Taskmaster?" She asked as she applied a bandage to a large gash on the young boys shoulder. "You should have called for help, or used the Bio-ship, destroying a helicopter while you're riding in it was reckless and stupid."

Taskmaster smiled.

"In my defense…it seemed like a good idea at the time."

OoOoO

**Unknown Location**

"All I recovered was this single vial of Kobra venom." Sportsmaster said as he held up the vial in front fo him. He was standing in a dark chamber surrounded by monitor screens; each figure on the screens was a distorted blur of white colors.

_"Perhaps ze venom can be reverse engineered."_ One of the voices said in a French accent. _"But what of our young heroes? First it twas Cadmus,then Mista Twista, and now ze Santa Prisca."_

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action, and enemies of the light must not stand." A much deeper and darker voice echoed.

Sportsmaster nodded and was about to leave the room until another voice spoke up.

_"My informants tell me you fought the Taskmaster while on Santa Prisca, can you confirm the rumors about his powers?"_ The voice asked in a civil and sophisticated accent that had a dark undertone.

Sportsmaster ran his hand over the three claw marks on his mask that Taskmaster had left with his energy claws.

"I witnessed him using numerous fighting styles masterfully, there's no way someone that young could have acquired those skills so quickly without some form of help." He stated. "He even used Black Spiders web slinging and I would recognize Deathstrokes swordsmanship style anywhere. Those are two unique fighting styles that couldn't have been learned normally."

_"Interesting…then Taskmaster could become a valuable asset…is there anything you might know about the Taskmaster that would aid us in bringing him to the light?"_

Sportsmaster racked his brain for any information about the mysterious masked boy but he could only remember one thing from the entire fight.

"I think he might have a unicorn tattoo on his chest with a rainbow colored horn..."

OoOoO

**Authors note**

Over 100 reviews, you guys are too awesome. I can now die happy.

Also I cracked my pelvis so I'm kinda doped up on painkillers right now, so hopefully this chapter was coherent, editing while doped up on painkillers isn't easy.

Also I added a link on my profile describing how Wally's bow works. It's basically Hawk-eyes bow from the Avengers, loved that Movie.

I know it's another rewrite but I needed it to establish things. Also this is going to be a long story; it's a rewrite where Wally got a different Superpower so I do have to rewrite a lot of things, while putting my own twist on them.

The Superhero names I put in during the fight scene was meant to show who Wally copied and how he used their fighting styles.

Batman- Copied Batman's hand-to-hand skills

Wonder Woman- Copied her abilities with the shield. In the comics she is a Amazon and traditionally uses a sword, spear, and at times a hoplite shield.

Cheetah- Cheated on this one. Wally uses Wolverine claws. I did this because I was reading comics recently and noticed that Artists draw Cheetah and Wolverine the exact same ways when they fight. They have the same battle poses and postures.

Black Spider- Web slinging, he's a Spider-man rip-off. Organic web shooters ftw.

Deadshot- Batman villain, best Marksman in the DC universe.

Deathstroke the terminator- Better know to non-comic people as Slade from Teen Titans. He uses a Katana in the comics and is the deadliest mercenary in the world.

I actually received some hate mail after the last chapter. Here is my personal favorite line from the email I received. "You suck and I hope you and your family die in a fiery car crash." That line made me laugh; I don't see the point in getting so upset over a fanfiction. If you don't like my story that's fine, everyone has the right to voice their opinion, but at the same time I would like to say this fanfiction is harmless and not worth getting upset over.

I don't think I'll be continuing the comment corner, I'll just respond to all questions via private messaging. I will however answer one question.

To all you people asking who the mystery girl is…I'm not telling.

Thank you all who reviewed my last chapter-Chaos Dragon, Malik, Sunnybunnylove77, blackririshawk, Xoraan, ShenangigansKid, Jazbez, Coldblue, Dextra2, cary99, Hybrid301, annagray, WallyWestlover, Irenerb, Animeflunky, Zak Saturday, and Nerdy-self99. Thank you all.

And Yes I even Thank my anonymous reviewers, because I appreciate all of you.

Please review, so that I can make improvements


	9. Robots and Wonderlands

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice**

OoOoO

**Gotham City, July 31, 17:29 EDT**

"_My life has been waiting for something to happen…for something to change."_ Artemis thought to herself as she waited at the bus stop. After several minutes of waiting she saw the number 27 bus from _Blüdhaven _driving towards her.

"My life is a bus stop…" She said to herself.

The bus stopped right in front of her and its door opened up, the driver pressed a button next to his steering wheel that lowered a small ramp in front of the buses door. Once the ramp finished lowering a small woman in a wheel chair rolled out of the bus. Artemis stared at the woman… her mother Paula Crock.

"Artemis? Is that you?" Paula asked as she looked at the blonde girl in front of her.

"Hi Mom." Artemis said as she leaned down and hugged gave her mother a light hug.

Paula returned the hug and tried to hold back tears as she looked at her daughter. Artemis had grown so much since she last saw her; it reminded her about how much of her daughter's life that she had missed while in prison. The hug soon ended and Paula noticed that Artemis was alone.

"Your father?" She asked even though she already knew the answer.

Artemis shifted uncomfortably. "I reminded him it was today but…"

"I understand." Paula said as she looked dejectedly at the ground. She had a feeling her husband wouldn't show up but it still hurt, despite her prison sentence she had hoped he would at least show up to pick up his wife. She shook those thoughts from her head and focused on her daughter.

"No use waiting for him, let's go home."

No more words were spoken between them as Artemis wheeled her mother home. After fifteen minutes of walking they finally reached the small apartment that Artemis and her father lived in. It was an old building that was located in a rather bad neighborhood; Artemis led her mother up to the apartment and showed her around the small place. The apartment itself was nothing special; it had two bedrooms, a bathroom, dining room, kitchen, and a small living area.

Once she got her mother settled in Artemis began preparing a simple meal for the two of them to share. After thirty minutes of cooking she managed to make a simple meal of spaghetti and meatballs.

"Sorry dinner isn't anything special; I'm not a great cook and haven't gone shopping in awhile." Artemis said as she set a plate in front of her mother who had settled in front of the dining room table.

"It looks delicious and I'm sure it's better than anything I've eaten in six years." Paula said happily. She grabbed a fork and began to eat the meal her daughter had prepared. She savored every single bite; it was a million times better than anything they had served her during her prison sentence. She stopped eating for a moment and looked up at her daughter who had seated herself across from her, and had begun eating.

"Do you have any homework tonight?" Paula asked, hoping to start a conversation.

"It's summer; I don't have school for several months." Artemis answered, not even bothering to look up from her food. Paula mentally slapped herself for losing track of time; she decided to try something else.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Artemis let out a tired sigh; she really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"Nope, in fact I think I'm a lesbian." She said casually. The statement shocked her mother so much that she began to choke on her food. Paula quickly grabbed some water and cleared her throat while Artemis laughed at her mother.

"I was just joking mom, you really are gullible." Artemis said while trying to suppress her laughter.

Paula glared at her daughter. "Don't do that to me Artemis you really had me worried for a second…not that I have anything against lesbians, I would just like grandchildren someday." Paula said as she turned back to her meal.

"Well that's not going to happen for awhile, especially since all the men at my school are scumbags."

"I see…" Paula saw that the conversation wasn't going anywhere positive so she decided to change the subject. "Anything new happen that you didn't mention in your letters?"

"Dad came home a week ago after one of his 'business trips' and he looked like he had been mauled by a tiger and beaten with a club." Artemis stated, she could remember when he first got home. He was in a bad mood and had been limping, it was the first time she had ever seen her father come home with any type of injury.

"What happened to him?" Paula asked genuinely curious.

Artemis shrugged. "He didn't want to talk about it, but judging from his mood things didn't go so well on his trip." Artemis said as she finished her meal.

She continued talking with her mother about minor things until the woman was finished with her own meal. Artemis then went about clearing the table and cleaning the dishes. Once everything was clean she went off into her room and began working on her hobby.

Artemis sat down on her bed and pulled out a quiver of arrows and began tinkering with them.

"This is my life…Preparing for a battle that never comes…"

She began to inspect and fix her gear. She inspected her numerous trick arrows that she had made over the last few months. Once she was done checking over her gear she looked up from her work and noticed the old poster on the opposing wall of her room.

It was an old Alice in Wonderland poster, the same old poster her sister had hung up on the wall all those years ago.

"What I wouldn't give for a rabbit hole to tumble into…" She said sadly to herself as she began to making a new trick arrow to add to her arsenal. She was drawn out of her musings when she heard the front door to the apartment slam open.

"Artemis! _Daddy's_ home!" A male voice called out.

Artemis felt her blood run cold, she always dreaded when her father came home. If he was in a good mood he would ignore her or give her a difficult training session, and if he was in a bad mood he would give her a hellish training session in an attempt to toughen her up. She ran over to her bedroom door and opened it a little and looked out into the living room. She saw her father enter the living room in his civilian clothes, the large man was about to walk into his room only to find Paula blocking his way.

"Hello Lawrence." Paula said once she saw her estranged husband enter her vision.

"Oh, yeah…" Lawrence said as he gazed at his wife. "_Paula_, forgot you were coming home today."

Paula knew it was a lie but she ignored it.

"I'm _overjoyed_ to see you too, lover." Paula said as she wheeled herself into the master bedroom. Lawrence followed her into the room and sat himself on the bed, he was ready for the long talk he knew was coming.

The second the bedroom door closed Artemis snuck over to the door and pressed her ear up against the wood; she tried her best to hear what her parents were saying inside the room. After a few seconds of listening she could make out what they were saying clearly.

"I meant to visit." Lawrence said as he sat on the bed, he was looking at the floor not wanting to meet his wife's eyes.

Paula wasn't buying it. "Even a postcard would have been nice. Artemis wrote me once a week when I was inside."

"She did? You're kidding me." Lawrence said in a disbelieving tone.

"Stop rolling your eyes. It's all that got me through…" Paula trailed off as she remembered her time in jail, not knowing how her family was doing, and unable to even see her daughters.

"The way things played out it could have been either of us to take the fall."

"In the end I ended up taking the fall for both of us, but I did the time, and now that I'm out of prison Artemis is my priority." Paula stated with authority. She looked up at her husband and waited for his reaction but he simply continued staring at the floor. Seeing that he wasn't going to respond she decided to continue.

"I lost one daughter while I was gone and I refuse to lose the other…I need to set some ground rules Lawrence."

Lawrence finally let out a small chuckle at his wife's words. "Six years you're gone and now you're taking over?" He looked up at his wife; he hated looking at her now. The woman he fell in love with, the strong, independent, and free willed Huntress was now restricted to a wheelchair. It pained him to even look at her fragile form, it was the reason he had been avoiding visiting and the reason why he wanted to stare at the ground. "While you were gone I raised her, trained her, and toughened her up."

Artemis sat listening at the door and had to stop herself from running in and stabbing her father. She stifled her anger and continued to listen.

"Let me compliment you on the wonderful environment you've been raising our daughter in!" Paula sarcastically stated while gesturing to the rundown room they were sitting in. "What the hell happened Lawrence? You were once the best mercenary in the world, powerful men and organizations were willing to pay you millions of dollars for a single job, and this shitty apartment is the best you could provide for our daughters?"

Lawrence let out an angry sigh. "What would you have me do? Spoil the girls rotten; watch them grow up as entitled bitches like all the other teenagers that run around nowadays?" He asked. "I made her self-sufficient, she might hate me but I've prepared her for the tough world she's going to face, the world the both of us faced."

Paula reached over and grabbed her husband's hand. "Lawrence…I know we both had tough lives but we have to give up this life of crime for our daughter. I'm giving up the life, and I want you to give it up as well."

"How are we going to pay the bills?" He asked. "We aren't exactly suited for anything else, I'm going to continue working as a mercenary and live the big life."

"The only thing big about your life is the cockroaches that live in this apartment."

"I'm just having a bad luck streak. I would have made the big bucks on my last mission if it hadn't been for the unicorn loving bastard blowing up the helicopter I was in. My employers didn't pay me since I lost the entire shipment…If I ever see that unicorn lover again I'm going to snap his neck like a twig." Lawrence said angrily, that job was going to make him rich but it was all ruined by that bastard.

"Unicorn?" Paula asked.

"_Unicorn?"_ Artemis thought as she listened to her father. What the hell did unicorns have to do with anything?

"It's a long and very annoying story that I don't want to think about right now." He said. "But I'm not giving up the life of a mercenary, not for you or Artemis."

"Then your ass is out of here, I don't want to see you around unless you give up your life of crime." Paula said as she pointed towards the door.

"Fine, I'll leave. But baby you're kidding yourself if you think you can save Artemis from the life…like it or not she's one of us."

Artemis angrily snapped the arrow she had been carrying in half after hearing her father's words. She stifled her anger and continued to listen.

Lawrence quickly packed his few processions into a bag and was about to walk out, he looked at his wife one last time. "There's some money in a suitcase under the bed. Use it or don't, I really don't care anymore. I'll see you later…Huntress…" He walked over to the nightstand and grabbed his mask and left the room. He opened the door and was unaware of his daughter propped up against the wall trying to stay hidden.

He looked at the mask in his hand, it was the mask he was wearing on his last mission and it had three claw marks on it.

"_You must really love Halloween. Either that or you love looking like a Metro sexual version of Jason Voorhees." _Taskmaster's words rung out in his head.

Lawrence angrily threw the mask on the floor. He would have to get a new one; he didn't want to be reminded of that annoying prick ever again. He wordlessly walked out of the apartment, leaving his wife and daughter behind.

Artemis still had her back against the wall, amazed that her father hadn't noticed her. She walked over to the mask he threw and picked it up. She immediately like whoever left those marks, anyone who could make her father that angry was okay in her books. She went into her room and sat down on her bed. She mulled over what her father and mother had said, her father wanted her to become a criminal and her mother wanted her to lead a normal life. She looked up at the Alice in Wonderland poster in her room again.

"I'm Artemis, not Alice. There's no wonderland for someone like me." She said to herself, she looked at her father's mask that was now sitting in her lap. She picked it up and held it in front of her face and slowly began to put it on.

The second the mask touched her face she heard her father's words.

"_You're kidding yourself if you think you can save Artemis from the life…like it or not she's one of us."_

She pulled the mask off her face and threw it to the other side of her room.

"I'm not my father." She said with conviction. "This is my life and I'm not waiting around anymore. Its time I dictated my own future." She opened up her closet and grabbed her costume. She had assembled it out of old armor her father left lying around; it was colored green and had light armor that allowed her great maneuverability. She grabbed her bow and a quiver full of her special arrows and leapt out of her window onto the fire escape.

She spent an hour running across the rooftops, using the training her father had drilled into her to leap any gaps between buildings. She finally heard the sound of a store alarm go off and ran towards the noise. She looked down from her vantage point and saw two thugs run out of a store holding a bag of money.

"Wow a burlap sack full of money, these guys are as stereotypical as burglars get." Artemis said to herself as she followed them, she stuck to the rooftops and didn't let them leave her sight, and the crooks finally ran into a parking lot and ran over to a car.

"Hurry up; we have to get out of here before the cops show up." One of the thugs said as he looked around for any signs of the police.

"Just a second I have to find my keys." The other crook responded as he searched his pockets.

"Why the hell did you lock the doors in the first place you idiot?"

The thug with the keys didn't get a chance to respond because a arrow with a blunted tip struck him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. The other thug aimed his pistol in the direction the arrow came from and saw Artemis standing there with her bow aimed straight at him.

"That's a cute bow, but in case you haven't noticed, I have a gun." He aimed his gun at Artemis but she simply shot her arrow and it flew directly into the thug's gun barrel, causing the gun to explode in the thug's hand. The thug yelled in pain as he clutched his hand, giving Artemis enough time to close the distance between the two of them.

She delivered a vicious uppercut to the man's jaw, and followed it up with a roundhouse kick to the man's stomach. The man fell to the ground and clutched his abdomen in pain.

"Please stop! We can split the money, or you can take it all, just don't kill me!" The man begged as he grabbed the sack of money and threw it at the girl's feet.

Her response was to shoot an arrow at the man; the arrow exploded and released a net that covered the thief and held him in place. Satisfied with her handiwork she walked away.

Several minutes later the police arrived and found the thugs. They quickly put them both in cuffs and began leading them off to the patrol car.

Artemis watched from a nearby rooftop and smirked. She had just made the streets of Gotham a little bit safer; she turned away and began to walk off into the night.

"The night is still young, and there are a lot more bad guys to stop."

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, August 3, 12:02 EDT**

"Taskmaster, a package arrived for you!" M'gann yelled as she flew into the caves garage area. She flew over to her teammate who was currently fixing up his bike.

Taskmaster finished a few adjustments and looked up to his Martian roommate and accepted the package from her. "Sweet, this is from Outlaw. I knew he would come through." He said happily as he began to open the package.

"Outlaw?" Megan questioned as she watched her teammate enthusiastically open up the box.

"He used to be a member of the League, but nowadays he's mainly working as a small-time vigilante." Taskmaster answered as he finished opening the box, he pulled out two holsters from it and showed it to M'gann. "Outlaw is also one of the best marksmen in the world, I sent him a message, asking if he had suggestions for new gun holsters, and it looks like he came through."

"How are those any different from your old ones?"

"These ones are torso holsters, my thigh holsters were too restricting and my pistols kept getting caught on things." He answered as he finished strapping his new holsters on. They were now located at his torsos sides, but they still allowed him full movement of his limbs.

"That's cool…so what are you working on in here?" M'gann asked as she looked over at Taskmasters work area. It was littered with tools and spare parts.

"Just fixing up the bikes Batman sent us." He gestured to the row of bikes that were lying against the back wall. "They're in good shape but you can never be too careful, last thing you want on a mission is the bike crapping out. I also wanted to pimp out the one I'll be using."

"I thought you already had a bike?"

Taskmaster shrugged. "The old hover bike was what I used to keep up with my mentor, but the damn thing was unreliable. I also took it apart and used all the parts on a special project I have going on in my lab, if everything works out I will never need any vehicle ever again."

"Are you ever going to let me into your lab?" M'gann asked, ever since he had moved into the cave Taskmaster hadn't even let her near his lab.

Taskmaster shook his head. "The day I let you into my lab is the day I trust you alone with Superboy." He said as he walked over to the work area where he was working on the bikes.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Look Megan I'm going to level with you. Your crush on Superboy is creating an awkward living environment." Taskmaster said as he began affixing a storage unit on the back of his motorcycle.

"I do not have a crush on Superboy!" M'gann said angrily, not believing the things Taskmaster was saying.

Taskmaster stopped working on his motorcycle and reached into his jacket and pulled out two hand puppets. He put them on his hands and showed them to Megan.

"I watched a puppet making program on television last week and learned how to make puppets by copying what I saw with my powers, so I made one of you and one of Superboy." The puppets were perfect replicas of Miss Martian and Superboy, straight down to the tiniest detail. "I will now demonstrate what I have to deal with on a daily basis, with the help of my puppet visual aids."

Taskmaster used his ventriloquist skills that he copied to throw his voice at the puppet.

"Oh Superboy please notice me, let's make beautiful Martian/Kryptonian babies together and run off into the sunset." He made the M'gann puppet say.

He held up the Superboy puppet and began making it talk. "I'm sorry M'gann, I'm just too emo for that. I'm going to go brood and flag YouTube videos to make up for the fact that I have a small penis."

M'ganns eyes glowed angrily as she used her telepathic powers to rip the puppets off Taskmasters hands. She levitated them in the air and used her telepathy to shred them into tiny pieces.

Taskmaster simply shrugged. "If you don't like those puppets I made a Batman one." He said while pulling a Batman puppet out of his jacket.

M'gann simply glared at Taskmaster, who was becoming aware of the green girls anger.

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are angry at me."

M'gann shook her head. "I don't even know what to say to you anymore. You're just …immature beyond belief…just get help." She said as she flew out of the garage, leaving Taskmaster alone in the large garage area.

"She must be having her period…do Martian girls even have periods?" Taskmaster asked himself. He turned to look at the Batman puppet on his hand. "What do you think Batman?"

He held up the Batman puppet. **"I can't answer you; I'm too busy being the Goddamn Batman. I'm going to go climb up to the top of a skyscraper and brood."** The puppet answered.

Taskmaster realized he had just been talking to a puppet.

"…I think I might be going insane…"

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, August 3, 13:06 EDT**

"You don't have to apologize anymore Taskmaster, I forgive you." M'gann said for what felt like the hundredth time. For the last hour Taskmaster had apologized to her about the puppet incident and it was getting old fast. They were both standing to the side in the training room while Robin and Kaldur played a game of virtual air hockey.

"Alright cool, I just don't want things be awkward during dinner. We do have to live together." Taskmaster said._ "Lord knows things are weird enough when I live with two emotional aliens…hmmm I smell a sitcom 'The real world with Taskmaster', or maybe 'The Justice friends'…has a ring to it."_ He thought to himself.

The two teammates fell into a comfortable silence and simply watched their friends play their game. Robin managed to beat Kaldur for the third time in a row when the computer decided to chime in.

"_Recognized Superboy B04" _

Superboy walked out of the Zeta tube, his posture was stiff and everyone could tell he wasn't in a very good mood.

M'gann flew over to him. "Hey Superboy, how was Metropolis?" She asked kindly, but the Kryptonian simply pushed past her and walked off.

"Ready for training everyone?" A female voice called out. The team looked to at the voices owner and saw Black Canary and Martian man hunter walk into the room. M'gann flew over and hugged her uncle while Black Canary gathered the team in the center of the room for training. Black Canary noticed Superboy was walking out of the room.

"Stick around Superboy, Class is now in session" She walked to the center of the room and the floor began to glow a bright white as fighting area activated. She turned to the team and addressed them.

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you, everything I learned from my own mentor." She took off her jacket revealing an arm injury that was bandaged up. "And my own bruises."

'What happened?" M'gann asked as she looked at the wound on Canary's left arm.

"The job." She threw away her jacket and began her lecture. "Now combat is all about controlling the conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting and never reacting."

"That's not true." Taskmaster said, interrupting Canary's lecture. "Numerous forms of Martial arts rely on reaction and using the opponent's offensive nature against them."

Canary turned to Taskmaster and smirked. "I suppose you would know, Batman said you have used your photographic muscle memory to memorize 150 different styles of combat."

"173 styles of unarmed combat." Taskmaster corrected.

"Since you're so knowledgeable, how would you like to be my sparring partner for a little demonstration?" Black Canary asked her tone was innocent but Taskmaster saw through it; luckily he had memorized Canary's style of fighting and knew the counter to it. He only hoped it would be enough to turn the tables in his favor against the older woman's experience.

"You best get ready Canary, because you're about to get schooled." Taskmaster declared confidently despite the fear he felt welling up in the pi of his stomach.

He walked to the center of the room and stood across from the blonde woman who got into her fighting stance. Taskmaster didn't enter a fighting stance; he simply stood perfectly still.

_"Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. Be water." _Taskmaster repeated in his head as he relaxed all his muscles and prepared for Canary.

Black Canary finally charged at Taskmaster, He observed her form and the way her muscles moved. He calculated the way her fist reared back and the way she placed her feet. His brain managed to predict her movements perfectly.

Canary closed the distance between them in seconds and threw a powerful punch at him, Taskmaster swiftly sidestepped her punch, and his hand shot up, took Canary's fist, and caught it. Taskmaster threw all his weight forward, and managed to flip Canary's mass over his shoulder.

"Oof!"Canary landed hard on the deck, looking stunned, Taskmaster walked over to her intent on giving her a helping hand but the second he was near her she grabbed his ankle and pulled it towards her. This resulted in Taskmaster falling flat on his back.

"Good moves, but I never said the spar was over." She swiftly got up and ran at Taskmaster who had managed to get up on his feet. She threw a roundhouse kick at the boy who was unprepared for the attack. The kick managed to connect with the front of his mask, which resulted in him falling to the ground. Before he could even think about recovering Canary ran over and pinned him to the ground and put him in a headlock.

"Let this be a lesson, never approach a downed opponent unprepared, the spar is now officially over." She released Taskmaster and turned to the rest of the teens.

"Taskmaster is right, there are numerous fighting styles that revolve around reacting, but we are heroes. We can't sit around waiting for a villain to act. If we wait around and react, then innocent people end up getting killed. Understand?"

Everyone nodded; even Taskmaster saw the truth in Canary's words. He managed to stand up and walk over to where the rest of his friends were standing.

"_She cheated, next time I'm going to whoop her ass." _He thought to himself.

"That was a wonderful and inspirational lecture, can I go now?" Superboy asked, he was anxious to leave and didn't want to waste his time. Superman's earlier rejection was still eating away at him.

Black Canary smirked. "I'll let you leave this training session early if you can beat me in a spar."

Superboy walked to the center of the ring and the two of them prepared to fight.

Superboy charged at Black Canary but she simply grabbed his arm and threw him across the room. The boy got up and ran at her once gain but he was simply knocked on his ass.

"Your angry, you should chann-" Black Canary was cut off when Superboy got up and threw a punch at her, but she simply jumped over him and performed a sweeping kick that knocked the boy to the group for the third time.

"This spar is over." She said as she tried to offer her hand to him but he simply got up and tried to walk away.

"This is pointless, I'm leaving."

Black Canary put a hand on the clones shoulder. "Training is mandatory." She stated with authority. Superboy was about to challenge her but before another fight could break out a holographic screen appeared in the middle of the training area and Batman's face appeared on it.

"_Batman to the cave."_ Batman said over the hologram screen. Everyone in the cave gathered to listen to the Dark Knight. _"Five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of attacking and studying the powers and abilities of his opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements but that just made things worse as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant. It took the eight League members four hours to defeat and dismantle the android"_

"Whoa…he's like an improved version of you TM." Robin said as he looked over at his best friend.

"That robots just a poser, I'd like to see him copy my juggling abilities or my ability to make perfect toast." Taskmaster said defensively. "Wait a minute if he copy's superpowers does that mean he could copy my ability to copy things? So then he would copy the ability to copy and then he would copy me again and then copy the copier of copying…owww my head…thinking about this hurts me." He said while clutching his head.

Robin looked thoughtful. "If he copied you he would probably explode, or create a paradox."

"We believe it was made by Professor Ivo, it bears his signature. He uses nano machines to great effect and it's those nano machines that allowed the android to copy us."

"Ivo?" Kaldur asked. "But Ivos dead."

"So we all hoped." Canary said.

"Am I the only one not surprised that Ivo is alive?" Taskmaster asked. "I mean it's not like it's the first time a villain has returned from the dead. The Joker has died like 5 times, Ra's al ghul has died at least 10 times, Lex Luther 3 times, heck we even once thought Batman was dead but it turned out he was just traveling through time."

"_It wasn't a vacation, I almost died while time traveling."_ Batman said over the camera feed. _"Regardless of whether Ivo is alive or not we need to make sure this threat is permanently neutralized. We are sending two trucks with the androids parts to two separate star lab facilities. We will have four additional deco trucks; you will split into teams to guard the two real trucks. "_

"Wouldn't it be wiser to put all the parts in one truck and have the entire League guard the one truck?" Taskmaster asked. "Even if someone tried to get the parts they wouldn't be able to since the entire Justice League can overpower pretty much anyone. The bad guys would know where the truck was but they wouldn't be able to do anything about it, is what I'm trying to say."

"_No, we are doing this covertly; it's the single reason why I formed your covert team."_ Batman answered.

"_Am I the crazy one or am I just surrounded by crazy people?"_ Taskmaster mentally asked himself as he looked around at everyone.

Kaldurs PDA suddenly beeped and he looked down at it, it was the coordinates from Batman.

"Coordinates received, we are on our way. "

The Team dispersed and began preparations for the mission. Superboy was about to leave but he was stopped by Taskmaster.

"Everything okay Supes?"

Superboy grabbed the masked teens hand and pushed it off. "I'm fine, just having some issues with my _father_."

Taskmaster watched his roommate leave and decided he needed to have a talk with a certain someone.

OoOoO

**Litchfield County, August 3, 20:08 EDT**

Superman watched as security forces packed up parts of the robot. They were getting it ready for transport to the star labs facilities. He checked his watch, seven minutes until the convoys departed; he used his X-ray vision to see through the shrubbery and noticed the Team talking with each other in the trees. They were checking over their bikes and preparing for the mission. He noticed that one member of the team was missing.

"It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!" A voice called out loudly.

"_God if you exist…please kill me now."_ Superman thought as he turned around to see Taskmaster walking towards him.

"How blind are people in Metropolis that they mix up a bird and plane? They aren't even relatively the same size, even so why are they excited to see a bird or a plane? I don't go down the street and yell whenever a bird or plane crosses my view. Then again people in Metropolis must be a bit dim to fall for your disguise." Taskmaster said as he walked up to the Man of Steel.

Superman took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for this conversation. He could count the number of times he had talked to Taskmaster on one hand, but each time made him want to eat a chunk of Kryptonite, the boy was even more annoying then Barry. "What disguise are you talking about Taskmaster?"

"The disguise I was referring to is your alter ego, where you slip on a pair of fake hipster glasses and nobody realizes you're Superman, even though it's really obvious. Are people in Metropolis really that blind?" He asked. "Don't answer that because they keep letting Lex Luthor go free from prison even though he destroys half the city every other week, which speaks volumes about their intelligence. "

"Taskmaster, I could listen to you insult the people of Metropolis all day, but we have a mission and you need to report to your team." Superman said while trying to restrain his anger.

Taskmaster looked at his watch." We still got a few minutes, and I'm sorry about the Metropolis insults, it was nothing personal." He said apologetically. "I actually wanted to talk to you about Superboy."

Superman had to restrain a groan. _"Here we go…"_ He looked at the teenager and nodded. "Alright speak your mind Taskmaster."

"I think you need to give Superboy more attention, he's been having some problems with his strength and powers and needs someone to guide him, you should show him some of your moves like the freeze breath, heat vision, the mind eraser kiss and-"

"Who the hell told you about the mind eraser kiss?" Superman asked suddenly.

Taskmaster rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Flash …might have mentioned that you once used a mind eraser kiss to make Lois Lane forget about your secret Identity, I didn't believe him until Batman confirmed it. How does that even work anyway? Do you move your tongue into the brain and erase that person's memory?"

"I'm not going to answer that question, and I can't teach Superboy those abilities because he doesn't have all of my powers." Superman responded.

"Then just help him manage his abilities, the guy has trouble controlling his strength. Just last week he ripped the refrigerator door off its hinges. He's your son so you need to take some responsibility."

"He is not my son, and I don't see how any of this is your business." Superman responded in a stern voice.

Taskmaster eyes narrowed angrily. "Actually it is my business, because I live with Superboy, and every time you blow him off he comes home in a bad mood. Then he starts to break things, mainly my things. Then I get angry and start to break his things, then M'ganns things get broken in the crossfire and it creates a vicious circle of personal belongings getting broken, see what I'm saying?"

"Not really."

"Well then I'll give another example." He said. "Another reason it's my business is because he is my teammate, and I feel partially responsible for him."

"Well that's nice, but it looks like our time is up so you better report to your team." Superman said quickly, hoping to end the awkward conversation.

"Alright fine, be that way. But before I leave I was wondering if you could use that superpower where you shoot rainbows from your fingertips? Ever since Flash told me about it I've always wanted to see it." Taskmaster asked.

"No, now get out of here, we are on a mission."

Taskmaster decided to do as the man said; he could tell that the Kryptonian was being stubborn. _"Then again what do you expect from a guy who wears his underpants on the outside?" _He thought to himself as he walked off and rejoined his team who had finished their preparations and were ready for departure.

Aqualad turned to his teammate. "Taskmaster your riding with Superboy, the rest of us are going with the other truck. Understand?"

"Roger that Commander Kaldur." Taskmaster responded as he took off his quiver and bow from his back and put them in the side satchel on the bike, since they were dead weight while riding a bike.

The trucks carrying the robots body parts departed, the league members went with the decoys while the team followed the two trucks that held the real parts. After a bit of driving the two trucks that the team was following split up, and so did the team. Superboy and Taskmaster went with one of the trucks while Aqualad, Robin, and M'gann went with another.

Both parties enjoyed peaceful rides with no signs of battle or interruptions. But something was plaguing M'ganns thoughts.

"Do you think Superboys okay?" M'gann asked Aqualad and Robin. "I swear I wasn't reading his mind but anger flowed off of him in waves."

"Just give him space." Robin answered as he drove his motorcycle. "He just needs time to relax."

"Robins right, Superboy just needs time to cool off, a quiet mission will clear his head."

M'gann realized something. "If we wanted to give him peace and quiet to cool off why did you send him alone with Taskmaster?"

Aqualad wanted to face palm. "That probably wasn't such a good idea was it?"

OoOoO

"Here he comes, Here comes Speed Racer, He's a demon on wheels, He's a demon and he's gonna be chasin' after someone. " Taskmaster sang happily as he drove his motorcycle alongside Superboy.

"He's gainin' on you so you better look alive, He's busy revvin' up a powerful Mach 5, and when the odds are against him, and there's dangerous work to do, you bet your life Speed Racer will see it through. Go Speed Racer go!"

"Stop singing!" Superboy yelled angrily. Taskmaster immediately stopped and looked over at his Kryptonian friend.

"You don't like Speed Racer?" Taskmaster asked.

"Speed racer is fine; I just can't handle your singing voice." He replied as he continued driving his motorcycle. He looked over at Taskmaster who had stopped talking and was focusing on the road.

"I want to thank you."

"Thank me for what?" Taskmaster asked.

"I heard your conversation with Superman."

Realization dawned on Taskmaster. "I keep forgetting you have super hearing."

"Can he really erase people's minds by kissing them and shoot rainbows from his fingertips or were you just making that up?" Superboy asked, those powers sounded so ludicrous he had trouble believing in them.

"It sounds crazy but it's one hundred percent true, let's hope you didn't inherit the rainbow finger powers." Taskmaster joked, he was glad o see Superboy lighten up a bit. "So why were you so angry earlier? You looked like you were about to roid rage back in the training room."

Superboy tightened his grip on the motorcycles handles angrily. "It was just Canary, what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"

"Having super strength doesn't guarantee victory. In fact I remember kicking your ass back in Cadmus, and I don't have any super strength. Heck I have all the powers of a copy machine."

"You cheated; you sprayed my eyes with bear mace!"

Taskmaster let out a small laugh. "Doesn't change the fact that I beat you, the eyes are the most vulnerable part of any creature no matter how strong they are. Also the mace I use is often used by bounty hunters to blind suspects, so it's a legitimate form of combat. This is why you should wear a mask or goggles to protect those pearly blue eyes of yours."

Superboy shook his head. "I'm not wearing goggles; my eyes are fine as they are."

"Suit yourself, but back to what we were talking about. You should give Canary a chance, she's been doing this crime fighting stuff for years, and from the looks of things she wants to be your mother."

That information shocked Superboy. He had thought Canary was being condescending earlier…did she really want to be his mother? The woman had tried to comfort him on a few occasions but he thought she was doing it because she was obligated to do it as their teacher.

Receiving no response from Superboy Taskmaster decided to continue with his end of the conversation. "You should let her be your mother and stop caring about Superman so much. You don't need a father, hell my Dad was a neglectful asshole and I still turned out okay." Taskmaster said. "My dad was so bad I tried to run away at the age of six, I tried to go to Japan and become a Pokémon master. "

"You wanted to be a what?"

"A Pokémon master, I was six years old and didn't know any better…I still thought Jedi's existed back then."

"Sounds like you were a odd child. How far did you manage to get before you were caught? Or did you actually manage to get to Japan?" Superboy asked.

"I got to the pizza place several blocks from my house; the Greek family that lived there gave me all the free pizza I could eat before sending me back home. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't need a father to be awesome…and that Greeks make really good pizza. If they want to fix their economy and get out of dept they need to start making more pizza. In fact it's my professional opinion that any situation can be made better by adding pizza to it."

Superboy looked down at the control panel of his bike and contemplated his teammate's words…the ones that didn't involve pizza. "At least you had a father figure in the Flash. I don't have anybody." Superboy replied.

"You don't need a father figure. You have me, Robin, and Kaldur, we are like your brother figures. All you need to do is ask and we will help you with anything."

"Maybe you're right about the whole father thing." Superboy responded. He continued to stare ahead at the truck they were escorting and the two teens fell into a comfortable silence.

The silence was broken however by the sound of creepy laughter. The two teen heroes looked behind them and saw an army of flying robot monkeys coming straight at them.

"What the hell is this, Wizard of Oz?" Taskmaster asked as he veered his motorcycle to dodge the first wave of MONQIs. The strange little robots flew straight to the truck and attached to it.

"_Taskmaster, Superboy, we are being attacked!"_ Aqualad said over the radio.

"_So are we."_ Taskmaster replied as he drove up to the side of the truck. He engaged his motorcycles autopilot and jumped off the cycle and grabbed onto the side of the truck. He pulled himself onto the roof where numerous MONQIs were trying to cut through the roof with their laser eyes.

Superboy jumped off his own bike and joined Taskmaster on the roof. Superboy threw off his bike helmet and grabbed two robots with his bare hands and rammed them together, completely destroying them. He continued to punch, smash, and grab any of the monkeys that flew at him.

Taskmaster decided to join his Kryptonian friend in combat and pulled both his pistols out of their holsters.

"It's time to channel the power of Jack Bauer!" He yelled as he opened fire on the little robots, he hit several of them each one blowing up the second the energy rounds hit them. He raised his pistols into the air and shot several that were flying towards them, but for every one he brought down two more took its place.

One of the MONQIs Superboy was holding turned its head and shot two lasers into his eyes, effectively blinding him.

"My eyes!" He yelled as he clutched his eyes in pain, it felt like molting hot coals had been placed over his eyes. While he was writhing in pain several MONQIs grabbed onto him and activated their jet-packs. They began to life the clone into the air with the intent to fly him up high and dropping him back down to the earth.

Taskmaster looked over and that saw his friend was in peril and decided to intervene. He lifted up his arm and shot a stream of webbing from his glove, the webbing stuck to Superboys chest and Taskmaster began a tug-of-war with the MONQIs.

"This wouldn't be happening if you wore a mask or goggles you idiot!" Taskmaster yelled as he began to reel his friend in, the robots fought against him but Taskmasters strength was winning.

Seeing that they were losing the boy to Taskmaster the robots used their eye lasers to cut the webbing that was attached to Superboy, releasing him from Taskmasters grip. They flew Superboy high up into the air and once they reached a high altitude they dropped him. The clone fell to the earth and landed hard in the pavement. The boy managed to right himself but he was still temporarily blind. To make up for this he used his super hearing to listen for the truck, once he was certain of the direction the truck was he leap into the air and followed the sound.

Taskmaster didn't have time to try and help his teammate; he had to use his pistol to shoot several more MONQIs off the sides of the truck before they could cut through the armor plating. The truck was still safe as it continued on its directed course, but he knew it was only a matter of time until the sheer number of robots overwhelmed them.

"I hope the others are doing better than we are." He said as he shot another monkey in the head.

OoOoO

"I really hope Taskmaster and Superboy are doing better than we are." Robin said as he used his eskrima sticks to destroy several of the tiny robots that were attacking the truck. He was standing on top of the truck and trying his best to stop them from cutting into the cargo area. He dodged an eye blast from one of the robots; he retaliated by throwing a birdarang that cut the offenders head off.

Kaldur was riding along the side of the truck using his water whip to destroy the robots that had attached themselves to the sides of the truck and were trying to destroy the wheels.

He swung his water whip and knocked several robots off the tires of the truck, they fell down onto the pavement where they were smashed into little pieces. He looked up at the top of the truck and saw Robin and M'gann were still putting up a resistance.

M'gann flew into the air and used her telekinesis to smash several of the creatures apart. The second she destroyed the large group several of the creatures grabbed onto her and tried to overpower her. M'gann retaliated by using her shape shifting to sprout several extra arms, she used the extra arms to rip the tiny robots off of her body. Once her body was free she landed on the top of the transport truck next to Robin.

Robin looked over at M'gann who now had several extra limbs protruding from her body.

"AUUGHH!" Robin screamed in fear when he looked at his Martian teammate.

M'gann quickly shape shifted back to her original form. "Sorry, forgot about the extra limbs." She said as she turned around to face the rest of the MONQIs, but was shocked to find that the rest of the robots were retreating.

"Did we win?"

Her musings were cut short when truck shook and several of Ivos robots blew a hole in the back of the truck and carried off the crate containing the Amazo's parts. Aqualad stopped his bike and took off his helmet and watched the tiny robots carry off the crate.

"We failed; let's hope Superboy and Taskmaster fared better."

OoOoO

"I can't imagine this situation getting any worse!" Taskmaster yelled fought off several more MONQIs. He shot another one in the head and unloaded several rounds into another; the concussive blasts pure force tore the robot apart.

Superboy continued to leap towards the sound of the truck until he finally leapt one last time and managed to land directly on the truck, causing the entire cargo truck to shake with the force of his impact.

Unbeknownst to the two teens several MONQIs had managed to cling to the bottom of the truck. The little robotic creatures charged up their eyes lasers and shot out the tires of the truck, causing the driver to lose control.

Taskmaster saw it was only a matter of time until the truck flipped over. "We have to bail out right now!" He yelled as he leapt off the side of the truck and onto the soft cornfield on the side of the road. He looked up and saw the driver lose control and the truck flipped on its side and skidded across the road several yards until it finally came to a screeching halt.

The back doors of the truck blew up and several of the MONQIs flew out the back carrying the crate with the Amazo robot parts. Taskmaster flicked his wrist, and in the blink of an eye, three shurikens slid in between the gaps of his fingers. In a blur of movement, the teenager threw the three blades and they soared at the robots. None of the blades met their targets because once they were close the MONQIs simply used their eye lasers to shoot them before they could hit.

Superboy got up from the spot where he fell; he had been forced to jump off of the truck and had hit the pavement. He rubbed his eyes and managed to make out the sight of the Amazo's crate being carried off. He didn't waste any time in leaping in the direction of the MONQIs.

Taskmaster let out an angry sigh, the mission was a total failure so far. He looked over and saw the three security guards and driver stumble out of the capsized truck.

"Awesome job on security! Did you assholes even try? I didn't see a single one of you shoot your gun!" Taskmaster yelled at the guards, but they simply ignored him. "Honestly, grown men can't even use a gun, I'm fifteen and I killed about a hundred of those things!"

Taskmaster let out an angry huff and decided to contact his leader. He activated the radio in his mask and opened up a conversation with Aqualad.

"_Kaldur, our crate was taken from us, and my partner just run off after it."_He reported as he watched Superboy disappear into the distance.

OoOoO

Aqualad listened to his friend's transmission and sighed. He attempted to open up a connection with Superboys communicator.

"Aqualad to Superboy, radio your position, we will help you." Aqualad said over the communicator.

"_I don't need help, don't want any!"_

"_I think he just ditched his comm_." Taskmaster said over the communicator.

"Wonderful, now we can't even track him." Robin stated as he checked over his bike for any battle damage. "We need to put a tracking tag on him like the ones they put on dogs because I sense this happening in the future."

M'gann scanned the area, searching for Superboys psychic signature but after several seconds it was obviously useless. "He's out of my telepathic range." She said in a worried tone."This professor Ivo, is two steps ahead of us. Do you think we should contact Red Tornado?"

Aqualad shook his head. "Tornado always tells us to solve our own problems, and the mission can still succeed if we can intercept the parts before they are assembled."

"_That's a great idea Kaldur, except we have no idea where the parts are."_ Taskmaster said over the communicator.

Robin picked up a nearby MONQI that had been destroyed in the fight and began hacking into its central processor. "I might have the solution. We would have heard about the decoy trucks if they had gotten attacked. So the only way these moneys would know about our trucks having the parts would be if the parts have GPS." He said as he finished his hacking. "Ha! The parts do have GPS, which means I can track the signal with the robot we captured. Let's see the parts are going to…Gotham city…"

"That far south?" Kaldur stated. "There's no way the three of us will be able to get there anytime soon."

"_Its fine, I'm close enough that I can get there quickly and my bike is still fully operational."_ Taskmaster said as he mounted his motorcycle and prepared to depart.

"_Are you sure about that TM? None of us will be able to back you up anytime soon." Robin _stated, he didn't want his best friend doing anything that could get him killed.

"_It's fine, time to go Lone Wolf on this mission. I'll have things taken care of before you guys get here."_

"_Very well."_ Kaldur said, he didn't see any other alternatives. _"Go on ahead we will meet up with you ASAP."_

"_Roger, on my way to Gotham city now."_ Taskmaster revved up his bike and began the long ride to Gotham City; he hoped that he would make it in time.

OoOoO

**Gotham City, August 3, 21:21 EDT**

The MONQIs flew the Amazo's parts onto a moving train, their laughter echoed all around the area. Superboy followed the MONQIs using a combination of his vision and super hearing, when he saw the train he made a giant leap and landed on top of one of the train cars.

He used his super strength to ram his hand through the metal of the train roof. With a opening now open he could part it with his hands and opened a large hole that he was able to fall through. He landed in the interior of the train; the entire car was bathed in a creepy green light. He saw a short man with orange hair sitting at the other end of the train, surrounded by the MONQI robots that had attacked him earlier.

"You're Ivo?" Superboy asked as he took in the short mans appearance. "You look like one of those Oompa-Loompas from that stupid movie Taskmaster forced me to watch with him."

"That's not a nice thing to say." Ivo said as he took in Superboys sudden appearance. "Since when did the big blue boy scout have a brat?"

"He doesn't." Superboy stated angrily as he entered a fighting stance.

"If you say so." Ivo gestured to the MONQIs that surrounded him. "Have you met my Mobile Optimal Neural Quotient Infiltrators?" The second he asked that question the numerous MONQIs in the train car all converged on Superboy.

Superboy simply punched and smashed every single one of them.

Ivo sighed sadly. "And after all the trouble I went through to find an acronym for MONQI. You see my robots are-"

After listening to a few seconds of Professor Ivos monologue Superboy remembered an important lesson he learned from Wally.

"_Superboy the main weakness of a villain is their speeches. They get so lost in their own monologues, which means they let their guard down. Best time to attack them is when their midsentence during a speech. Now pass me another slice of pizza."_

Superboy decided to act upon his friend's advice.

"-so as you can see my robots are the pinnacle of brilliance an-" Ivo's speech was cut off by Superboy lunging forward and punching the man in the face. Ivo fell to the ground and clutched his face in pain, but before he could even scream Superboy grabbed the short man by the scruff of his shirt and threw him to the other end of the train car. Ivo hit the metal door at the back of the train and grunted in pain.

Superboy began to advance on the injured man with the intent of knocking him unconscious and calling it a day, but Ivo had other plans.

"Amazo defend your master!" Ivo yelled.

"_Activate Captain Atom."_ A robotic voice said from the other end of the train car.

Superboy turned around to see where the voice originated from and was immediately struck in the chest by an energy blast. He flew past Ivo and was sent flying through the metal wall of the train car and landed on an empty train platform. He looked up and saw that he was outside; the cool night air from the moving train ran through his hair. He looked to the hole his body had just created in the train cars wall and saw the robot walk out of it.

"This is Amazo, my greatest creation." Ivo stated proudly while getting up off the ground, the man was still in pain from Superboys earlier attack but he was quickly recovering. "Amazo, destroy this petulant child, priority Alpha."

Amazo ran forward using Flashes super speed and grabbed Superboy by the scruff of his shirt.

"_Activate Superman."_ Amazo said before punching Superboy. The punch connected with Superboys chest, effectively knocking the wind out of the clone's lungs. It also sent Superboy flying into the air in the direction of Gotham city.

OoOoO

**Gotham City, August 3, 21:24 EDT**

"I must be the worst crime fighter ever." Artemis said to herself as she sat perched on top of one an apartment complex. She had spent her entire night looking for a crime to stop but she hadn't been able to find one. "I can't even find a crime to fight in Gotham city, one of the biggest hellholes on earth…maybe I do need a rabbit hole to tumble into."

She was broken out of her thoughts when she saw an object hurtling through the air.

"AUUGGHH!" Superboy screamed as he flew though the air from the Amazos punch, his trip through the air was cut short when he crashed through the window of a Gotham Academy classroom and landed ungracefully on the floor.

Artemis quickly used a fire escape to descend from the building she was on and ran towards Gotham Academy where she saw the boy fly. "Looks like I found a white rabbit to follow." She said to herself as she neared the school.

"Gotham Academy, School for fancy-pants rich kids. Supposedly the best school in all of Gotham City." She said to herself as she observed the towering school building. She continued to sprint towards the academy, intent on finding her white rabbit.

OoOoO

Taskmaster pulled up in front of the Gotham academy gym, he looked at his GPS and saw that the parts where in the school, which meant Ivo was assembling them in the school or they were already assembled.

He activated his communicator. _"Rob it looks like the parts are at your school, I'm going in."_ Taskmaster said over the comm.

"_We'll be there ASAP."_ Robin quickly answered.

Taskmaster looked up at the school. "I wish I could have had a better introduction to Gotham Academy." He said to himself as he hopped off his motorcycle. He grabbed his bow and quiver from the side of the motorcycle and armed himself, this was going to be one hell of a night.

He ran up to the gyms main doors and found them locked. He pulled out his katana and performed several rapid slashes that cut the door up into pieces. "I'm glad heroes don't have to pay for collateral damage."

OoOoO

"Is that all you got!" Superboy yelled angrily as he threw a punch at Amazo. The robot simply grabbed the boys outstretch arm and threw him across the gym where he landed painfully on the ground.

"Good show!" Ivo shouted happily from his comfortable seat in the bleachers of the gym. "I don't usually attend these sorts of events in person but this was too good to miss."

"_Access Superman."_ Amazo said as it walked up to Superboy.

Superboy picked himself up and ran at the robot and delivered a powerful punch to the robots jaw. Amazo didn't even flinch from Superboys punch and simply retaliated with a series of punches that caused Superboy to collapse onto the gym floor. Amazo prepared to deliver the finishing blow that would end Superboys life.

"Access Green Arrow."

Amazo looked up to see who had spoken and saw a arrow flying in its direction, before it could access Martian man-hunters abilities the arrow imbedded itself in its chest. After a second had passed the arrow exploded, leaving a small gash in the robots armor plated skin.

"That's right; you're not the only person who can copy people's abilities." Taskmaster declared as he readied another arrow and aimed it at the robot. "My names Taskmaster, and you're about to get schooled."

"My my my, another hero enters the battle." Ivo said, practically giddy by the development before him. "The suspense is terrible…I hope it'll last."

Superboy saw that Taskmaster had managed to distract both the Amazo and Ivo, so he took this chance to attack. He swept his leg beneath the robot, Amazo wasn't prepared for the sudden attack and fell to the ground, but before Superboy could deliver a finishing move to the robot, the robots lower body began spinning.

"_Access Red Tornado."_ Amazo said as it began to hover by using Red Tornadoes wind abilities. Superboy was flung back by the whirlwind from the robots lower body, Taskmaster fired another arrow at the robot but Amazo simply swatted it aside before it could connect.

Artemis leapt over the fence around the Academy; she heard the sounds of a battle and followed the noise to the gym area. She leapt up into a nearby tree that was adjacent to the gym; she scaled the branches until she found a comfortable spot to use as a vantage point. She looked into the gym and what she saw shocked her.

She saw a robot using red whirlwinds to throw around a two people, one of them was her white rabbit and the other one was… "Skeletor?" Artemis asked herself, unsure of whom the other person was. Upon closer inspection she recognized Taskmaster; he often joined Batman and Robin in fighting crime in Gotham.

"So Taskmaster and my white rabbit are fighting a robot. My white rabbit is rather cute in a beat up sort of way." She mused as she took in Superboys beat-up appearance. Her observations were interrupted when she heard the sound of creepy laughter.

She looked up and saw numerous little monkey robots had taken up positions in the trees branches around her their glowing green eyes stared at her as they let out a creepy laugh. She put her bow back in its holster on her back and pulled out the automatic crossbow out of her side holster. The robots perceived the threat the teen hero posed and immediately flew at her with the intent to kill.

"I thought I found Wonderland but it looks like I somehow landed in Oz." Artemis said as she shot several of the MONQIs in the head with her automatic crossbow. The crossbow bolts pieced their metal skulls and impaled them on the tree branches. One of the MONQIs charged up its optical blasts and shot the crossbow out of the girl's hand. Artemis was now disarmed, she decided to grab a MONQI by the tail and used it as a flail.

She swung the annoying robot at its allies, her new weapon managed to crush several of the creatures in a single swing. She looked around and saw only one of the robots was left, the MONQI began to fly away but Artemis simply dropped the broken MONQI she had been using as a weapon and pulled out her bow. She readied an arrow and aimed at the retreating MONQI, she fired the arrow and it hit the robot right in the head and pinned it against the wall of the school.

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief now that she was free from those nasty creatures and looked to see how the teen heroes were doing.

She looked through the window and watched as the robot swatted aside the boy in the black Superman shirt. With Superboy out of the picture the Amazo put Taskmaster in a bear hug. Artemis saw that the teen wouldn't be able to escape and decided to help. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and prepared to fire. She aimed at the robots head and released the arrow.

Amazo saw the arrow coming and activated its Martian-man hunter mode, allowing the arrow to phase through it. This also had the effect of letting Taskmaster fall through the robots arms.

Artemis felt a large amount of happiness well up in her stomach. She managed to save a superhero from being killed. "Looks like I'm the real deal after all." She said happily, her celebration was cut short when she felt a metal tail wrap itself around her neck.

"How many of these damn things are there!" She yelled. She reached to her thigh and pulled out a small combat knife, she lunged the knife backwards over her shoulder and stabbed the MONQI in the head. The MONQI deactivated and its tail ceased being taunt and it slipped off of the teen's neck.

Now that she was free from the MONQIs grasp she took several deep breaths, trying to replenish the oxygen she had been deprived of. Her rest ended when she heard the chittering laughter of even more robots.

"Looks like this is far from over." She said as she readied herself for battle.

Taskmaster fell to the ground, now free from the Amazos grasp. He looked at the arrow that had just saved his life. "Who the hell-" His statement was cut short by the Amazo who picked the boy up and threw him into the bleachers of the stadium. He landed roughly but his armor was able to absorb a majority of the impact.

"Nice try Taskmaster, but my Amazos ability to copy superpowers makes your abilities look rather…primitive." Ivo said in a condescending tone.

Taskmaster looked up and realized the man was only several yards away from him. _"That robot threw me right at its master."_ He thought to himself as he began formulating a plan. He pulled himself off the ground and took out one of his pistols and ran at Ivo.

Ivo's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the teen hero coming at him. "MONQIs destroy that little punk!" He commanded. The three little MONQI bodyguards he had near him ignited their little jet-packs and flew at the teen.

Taskmaster simply raised his pistol and fired three precise shots that took each one of the MONQIs heads off. Ivo tried to run away but Taskmaster simply tackled the shorter man and pinned him against the bleacher seats. He aimed his energy pistol at the man's head and began charging up a powerful shot.

"Deactivate your Amazo robot or else." Taskmaster ordered, Ivo simply laughed.

"Nice try, but I know your mentor very well" Ivo said. "Flash is almost a big a Boy Scout as Superman, not to mention that fact that killing is against Justice League regulations."

Taskmaster looked down at Superboy who was fighting a losing battle with the Amazo. He didn't have time; he needed to get this man to turn off the robot. He activated his masks intimidation mode. His eyes glowed red and his voice modulator activated.

While Taskmaster prepared to intimidate Ivo, Superboy was busy fighting for his life.

"Damn you!" Superboy yelled angrily as he slammed his fist into the robots gut. The punch did no damage and the robot simply shrugged it off.

"_Access Superman."_ Amazo said as it grabbed the clone's outstretched arm and threw him against the walls of the gym.

Superboy managed to pick himself up but he was disoriented. He looked up and saw Taskmaster had pinned Ivo to the ground. He knew what his friend was planning, but he wasn't sure if he would last long against this robot alone.

"_Access Superman."_ Amazo stated as it ran at Superboy and raised its fist.

"Access Black Canary."Superboy said as he waited for the robot to come at him. Right as Amazo threw its punch; Superboy sidestepped it and grabbed the robots outstretched arm. Using all the strength he could muster he threw the robot as hard as he could out; the robot flew across the gym and hit the fall where it fell to the ground. The Amazo simply picked itself up off the ground and began to advance on Superboy again.

"Wally, I have no clue what you're doing but you better do it fast." Superboy said to himself as he got ready to take whatever the Amazo could throw at him.

With intimidation mode active Taskmaster decided to interrogate the man.

"**Your right Ivo, I wouldn't kill you."** Taskmaster said, his voice was deep and robotic thanks to the masks voice changing software. He holstered his pistol and instead reached into his utility belt. Ivo was about to taunt the boy but he saw that Taskmaster had reached onto his utility belt and pulled out a butterfly knife.

"**But there are no League rules against a little advanced interrogation."** He said dangerously. **"And for the record, I might be Flashes sidekick, but I was trained by Batman."** He held the knife to the man's throat. **"Now deactivate that robot!"**

"You don't have what it takes kid, you are nothing but a-" Ivo didn't get to finish that sentence because Taskmaster used his free hand to seize the Ivos right hand and pinned it against the wooden bleacher seat. Taskmaster raised his butterfly knife above his head and brought it down on Ivos right hand, the knife went through the flesh and straight into the hardwood of the bleachers.

"AUUGHHHH!" Ivo screamed as he tried desperately to get away from Taskmaster. But the knife had pinned his hand to the bleachers and the more he tried to move, the more it hurt. Ivo tried to pull the knife out but the damn thing was stuck and wouldn't budge. Taskmaster simply stood back and watched the man try to break free.

"**Don't worry, I didn't hit anything important, but you will bleed out eventually. So I suggest you listen to reason, and deactivate that robot of yours. Or I swear to god I will crucify you!"**Taskmaster yelled as he pulled out his katana and positioned the blade above Ivos only remaining good hand.

"There is no way to deactivate it orally, there was no point since it already recognizes me as its Master!" Ivo admitted, finally giving in. "But It does have all the weak points a regular human does. Eyes, ears, etc. Now get the hell away from me you maniac!"

That wasn't what Taskmaster wanted to hear. He was hoping the man could deactivate the robot with a codeword. He deactivated his intimidation mode, sheathed his katana and quickly turned away from the man and began running down the bleachers to help Superboy.

"Aren't you going to take this knife out of my hand!" Ivo begged as he watched Taskmaster runaway.

"Nope." Taskmaster answered as he ran down the bleachers, he reached the ground floor and saw that the Amazo had managed to put Superboy in a bear hug. The robot was slowly crushing the clone and it was obvious Superboy wouldn't last much longer.

Taskmaster drew his katana and ran at the robot. He quickly closed the distance and raised his blade, preparing to strike. Amazo heard the boy approaching; it dropped Superboy and kicked the clone across the gym where he landed roughly against the wall. Amazo turned to face Taskmaster who raised his katana above his head and pushed all the strength he had into a vertical slash.

Amazo simply raised its arm in front of itself to block the attack. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the gym as Taskmasters katana hit the robots forearm. The katana was successfully blocked and the only evidence of any damage being done was the smallest of scratches on the robots forearm. Amazo pushed the sword away and threw a deadly right hook at Taskmaster who could only close his eyes in anticipation of the pain.

The punch hit the teen right in the chest and flung him across the gym where he landed in a heap right next to Superboy. Taskmaster picked himself up and looked at the Amazo that was slowly advancing on them.

"_My katana should be able to cut through that robots metal body; I just lack the arm strength." _He thought to himself. He looked at Superboy who was also picking himself up off the ground, a sudden realization hit him._ "I might not have the strength to cut through the robot…but Superboy does…"_

Taskmaster shoved the katana in front of Superboy, offering it to the clone. "Use this, with your arm strength it should be able to cut through that robot." He said to the Kryptonian.

Superboys eyes widened with understanding and took the offered blade. It felt odd having a weapon in his hand; he was used to using his fists. But it was obvious that his fists were not going to win the fight alone. "I guess it'll also help that we are switching up our styles, since the robot already know what we do, so now we do what we usually don't."

"Activate dual shields." Taskmaster declared, and two orange energy shields sprung to life on both of his arms. "Let's do this." He said as he ran at Amazo, this was their last chance to defeat this robot.

_"Captain Atom."_ Amazo said as it shot a stream of yellow energy at Taskmaster, who simply raised both his shields in front of his body and blocked it. Amazo continued firing Captain Atom's energy blast at Taskmaster, who simply kept closing the distance between them by keeping his shields in front of him.

While Taskmaster was keeping Amazo preoccupied, Superboy went on the offensive. He crouched down and used his strength to leap into the air right at the robot. He raised the katana that Taskmaster had given him and brought it down with the intent of cleaving the robot in two.

Unfortunately the Amazo spotted the clones attack. It didn't have enough time to go into Martian Man-hunter mode so it simply raised both its arms up in attempt to defend itself. However the robot didn't take into account Superboys strength, the clone brought the sword down and cleaved both of the robots hands off.

Before Superboy could make a follow-up attack the Amazo opened its mouth and let out a Canary call that threw the clone across the gyms floor. Taskmaster took this opportunity to go on the offensive. He quickly deactivated both his shields and raised his arms in front of him and aimed at the robots face and open mouth.

He quickly shot several streams of sticky webbing from his web-shooters; the webbing flew into the robots mouth and covered its eyes, preventing the robot from making any further Canary calls and robbing it of its sight. The Amazo tried to remove the webbing from its face, but it was proving difficult since Superboy had cut off both of its hands.

"Superboy we have to finish this now!" Taskmaster yelled as he activated his energy shield. He grabbed the shield and threw it at the robots chest; the shield struck with tremendous force and caused the robot to fall on its back. Superboy quickly picked himself up and leapt at the robot; he landed on the robots chest and raised Taskmasters katana above his head. He quickly brought it down in a stabbing motion; the blade penetrated the Amazo's robotic skull, effectively neutralizing it.

"Is it over?' Taskmaster asked, it felt like he had been fighting the robot for a eternity.

"It's over." Superboy confirmed as he looked down at the now destroyed robot. He felt a good amount of pride swell up in his chest. Both he and Taskmaster managed to kill a robot by themselves in twenty minutes, when it had taken eight members of the Justice League four hours to accomplish the same task.

"They actually managed to do it." Artemis said aloud as she sat on a tree branch. She was surrounded by the robotic corpses of numerous MONQIs that had attacked her. It had been a long and annoying fight but she had managed to kill them all. She looked at her white rabbit and Taskmaster and began to wonder what they were to each other.

"Are they teammates, crime fighting partners…lovers?" She asked herself, the last possibility made her blush slightly, but she quickly shook those thoughts from her head. "Whoa Artemis, don't go there. Their probably just heroes helping each other out."

Taskmaster surveyed the battlefield that was once the Gotham academy gym. This was not the way he wanted to be introduced to his new school. The entire place was filled with craters, burn marks, and numerous other damages from the fight. He only stopped surveying the destruction when he noticed one of the Amazos hands on the ground; he picked it up and began to inspect it.

"Highly sophisticated robotics, and capable of firing energy blasts…I wonder what secrets you hold…" He asked the hand, he quickly stashed it in his jacket, intent of studying it later.

Suddenly the gym doors swung open and the rest of the team joined the two heroes. Aqualad and Robin ran up to Taskmaster while Miss Martian flew directly to Superboy and began tending to him.

"Superboy, are you okay?" She asked, her voice filled with obvious concern.

"I'm fine." Superboy responded happily, he looked over at the destroyed Amazo. "In fact…I've never been better."

Aqualad and Robin walked up and checked on Taskmaster.

"Situation?" Aqualad asked in a business like tone.

Taskmaster pointed to the Amazo. "Well the robots dead." He answered.

"What about Ivo?" Robin asked.

"I'm still up here you idiots!" Ivo yelled, all eyes in the gym fell on the man who still had his hand pinned to the bleachers with Taskmasters knife. "And I'm still bleeding!"

Aqualad quickly ran to the man's aid and pulled the knife from his hand. He checked the man over and applied some basic first aid. Once he was certain the man wasn't going to die he put a pair of handcuffs on him. Aqualad handed the man off to M'gann and walked over to Taskmaster.

"Do you mind explain to me why you stabbed a man in the hand?" Kaldur asked, barely hiding his anger. Taskmaster raised his hands up in the air innocently.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Kaldur." He said innocently.

"So then this isn't your butterfly knife?" Kaldur asked while holding up the offending knife.

"Nope…"

"Even though it says 'Property of Taskmaster' on the blade?"

"That could be ANY Taskmaster; it's a popular name in Romania." Taskmaster responded while putting his hands behind his back innocently.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Kaldur asked.

"It would help me out if you did."

Kaldur shook his head; he didn't have the patience for this. "Fine, you can explain this to Black Canary when we get back to the cave."

"I'm fine with that; I have a way with the ladies."

Artemis watched as the entire team interacted, she couldn't hold back her excitement. She had overheard all the conversations between the teammates, She was happy tom learn the name of her white rabbit. "Superboy…explains the red S on his chest." She also couldn't help but find Taskmasters antics slightly amusing, the guy obviously knew how to push Aqualads buttons.

She watched the team as they cleaned up the remains of the robot. She couldn't help but be inspired by them. They were a team of young heroes just like her, and they untied together to fight crime.

"I wish I could join, I have all the credentials, not to mention the fact I killed a barrel full of these stupid monkeys, if I wasn't here Superboy and Taskmaster would be dead." She said to herself as she watched the team shuffle about. Her eyes drifted onto to Taskmaster who had crouched down and picked up her arrow from earlier.

"That's right, I saved your ass." She said as she gazed at the skull masked teen. Her musings were cut short when Taskmasters gazed in her direction the yellow eyes of his mask fell on her form, and narrowed.

"Crap!" She yelled as she dropped down from the tree branch she had been sitting on. She quickly ran away, using all of the training and body conditioning she had developed to sprint out of the area. She jumped over the schools fence and ran off into Gotham's alleyways.

Taskmaster ran out into the schoolyard only to find it empty, his gaze fell on a nearby tree and his eyes widened. It was covered in destroyed MONQIs and used arrows littered the entire area.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Robin asked, he had followed his best friend out of the gym and was now inspecting the damage to the area.

"Someone saved my life earlier with this arrow." Taskmaster said as he handed the green arrow to his friend. Robin accepted the arrow and began to look it over.

"This is obviously Green Arrows work, looks like the League still doesn't trust us." Robin said angrily, he felt a feeling of betrayal well up inside of himself.

"It's not Green Arrows." Taskmaster said as he walked over to the tree and began inspecting all the damage. "The arrowhead is different, and Green Arrow doesn't use crossbows." He said as he picked up an automatic crossbow off of the ground and showed it to Robin. He knew this wasn't Green arrow or Speedy, he had memorized every single detail about their fighting styles and what he saw here didn't match up with either of them.

"That is odd…you think it was Speedy?" The Boy Wonder asked as he took the crossbow from his friends hand and began inspecting it, he was now in full detective mode.

Taskmaster walked over to a footprint that was left in the mud. "It was a woman, or a very small man. I saw a shadow sitting atop this tree branch, which is why I ran out here in a hurry. Do you know about any bow using vigilantes operating in Gotham?"

"Nope." Robin answered.

"Also Speedys arrows are red and yellow, not green."

Robin let out a deep sigh, he wanted to investigate more but it had been a long night. "This is all very interesting but we need to call in a cleanup crew to get rid of all this damage, and inform the League about tonight's events."Robin said as he walked off to the gym to open up communications with Batman.

Taskmaster stood outside and called his motorcycle. After about a minute, the bikes autopilot drove it up next to him. He grabbed several MONQIs off of the ground, the ones that weren't terribly damaged and loaded them into several cargo areas on the bike. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss them.

"Better get to that briefing." He said to himself as he loaded the last MONQI onto his bike.

OoOoO

Artemis climbed in through her bedroom window and let out a deep sigh. She began to undress and take off all of her equipment, she winced as she took off her combat armor and it rubbed against a small burn mark left behind by one of those robots eyes blasts.

"Who am I kidding? I would never be able to join their team; they would probably want an entire background check on me." She knew that would mean a check over her family history. "And once they knew about my family they would never trust me…I wouldn't even trust me…"

She slipped off her mask and walked over to the mirror in her room. "They would never accept me." She said as she ran her hands over the mask she held in her hand. "I can play dress up all I want but no one is going to buy me as one of the good guys."

She finished undressing and got into her sleeping clothes. She crawled into her bed and laid her head down. Her eyes drifted to the Alice in Wonderland poster on her wall.

"I guess there really isn't a Wonderland for a girl like me…" She said right before she slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.

OoOoO

**Mount Justice, August 4, 01:06 EDT**

"The Amazo android is in pieces again, and is currently being analyzed at the two separate Star labs." Kaldur said to the League members at the mission briefing. Batman, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Martian Man-hunter, and Green arrow were listening with rapt attention. "Ivo is also in custody and is being treated for a stab wound to the hand and blood loss after a certain somebody thought it would be a good idea to wound him."

All eyes in the room turned to Taskmaster.

Taskmaster crossed his arms stubbornly. "I was interrogating the guy, what did you expect me to do give him a massage?"

"We expect you to show a certain amount of restraint." Canary said as she walked up to the teen. "I don't know who taught you to act so violently but there will be no more stabbing helpless people from now on. Understand?"

Taskmaster met the woman's gaze. "First off Batman taught me how to stab someone without seriously injuring them as part of interrogation training." Taskmaster said." In fact I don't see why you're busting my balls; Batman does stuff like this all the time. A few months ago Batman threw Sal Maroni off a building for not telling him information about the Joker, guy ended up breaking both his legs."

Black Canary turned away from Taskmaster and looked at the Dark knight. "Is Taskmaster telling the truth?" She asked.

Batman cleared his throat. "Well…I might have given him a few pointers, and in my defense I only threw Sal Maroni from a two story building." He said, in an effort to calm Black Canary down. "And I think this discussion should be shelved for another time, we should finish up this briefing, and the Team deserves some rest."

Martian man hunter stepped forward. "It has come to our attention that your mission had complications…" He said, in reference to all the crazy things that had happened.

"Complications come with the job." Batman said while stepping forward until he was standing in front of the entire team. "But your ability to handle those complications has impressed the League."

"The entire League?" Superboy asked.

"Given time…yes." Batman answered. "Kryptonians as you know, have very hard heads."

Superboy smiled at that statement.

"Is there anything else you didn't mention?" Batman asked the Team. Robin stepped forward and held out the arrow and crossbow.

"TM found these at the Gotham Academy gym. Someone helped Taskmaster and Superboy in the fight against the Amazo, but they had disappeared by the time the fight was over." Robin said.

Batman and Green arrow began inspecting the Crossbow and arrow. After thirty seconds of checking them out they had no answers.

"We will look into this, but for now you should all get some rest. Your all dismissed." Batman said.

The entire team dispersed except for Taskmaster who stayed behind.

"Could I have that arrow as a souvenir?' He asked.

"I don't see why not, the crossbow should give us enough information." Batman said as he handed the arrow to Taskmaster. The teen accepted the arrow and walked out of the briefing room, but instead of heading to his room for a rest he walked over to his lab. He typed in the numerical code to the labs door and entered it.

It was in its usual state of disarray, numerous chemicals, vials, and test-tubes lying around. His experiments shoved into numerous corners. He found a clean table and pulled out the hand of the Amazo that he had taken earlier. He also unslung a small backpack he had and pulled out several of the MONQIs he had taken from the schoolyard. He set them on the lab table and walked over to his closet area and pulled out a white lab coat and goggles.

After a quick change of clothes Wally was out of his hero costume and in a comfortable set of lab clothes. It felt like an eternity since he was regular old Wally West and not Taskmaster.

"Man I look like in this outfit." He said to himself as he sat at his lab table and began tinkering with the newest additions to his collection of technology. The MONQIs could be reassembled and put to good use, but he was still debating what he would do with the Amazo hand, so he settled for simply studying it. The scientific breakthroughs these items could yield made him giddy with excitement.

"Science rules." He said to himself as he got to work.

OoOoO

**Gotham City, August 7, 22:42 EDT**

"I don't know why I'm still doing this." Artemis said to herself as she climbed the fire escape to her apartment. She didn't know what she was trying to prove, she wasn't even able to find a crime to fight. She finally reached her window and opened it up and climbed in.

"Artemis could you come in here for a minute!" Her mother called out from the living room.

This shocked Artemis, why would her mother be calling her at this late hour? She didn't have time to change out of her hero outfit so she simply took off her mask and weapons. She scrounged around the room and slipped on a white bathrobe that covered her entire body, effectively hiding the rest of her costume.

She finally opened her bedroom door and walked into the living room. Her eyes widened when she saw Batman and Green Arrow sitting on her living room couch, while her mother served them tea.

"Batman…Green Arrow…" She started not believing her eyes. Then she realized they could only be here for one reason. "Mom! What did you do?" She thought her mother had given up her life of crime, yet there were two vigilantes sitting in the living room.

Paula rolled her eyes. "These men are here to arrest me because I robbed Fort Knox and committed Grand Theft Wheelchair." Paula said sarcastically while gesturing to her wheelchair.

"All jokes aside we are here to see you Artemis.' Batman spoke up, hoping to get this conversation over with.

"We know what you've been doing Artemis." Green Arrow added, while taking a sip of tea.

Artemis narrowed her eyes and threw off her bathrobe, revealing her costume. "So you're here to stop me? Well you can forget it Im-"

"No." Batman interrupted. "The Justice League has formed a Covert team of young heroes, a team I believe you are already familiar with.

"God he know, I am so busted." She thought to herself as she crossed her arms.

"We would like you to join that team." Batman finished.

"What?" Artemis asked, not quite believing her ears. She was being invited to join a superhero team; she had to resist pinching herself to make sure she wasn't sleeping.

Green Arrow looked up and addressed the girl. "We think you would make a great addition to the team…if it's alright with your mother."

"You have my permission." Paula said instantly. She didn't like the idea of her daughter's activities, she wanted her to live a peaceful and normal life. But she knew that there was no stopping the girl, and being a vigilante was better than the alternative.

Artemis contemplated all this, it seemed like a dream come true. But there was still one thing she needed.

"I'll join on one condition." She said as she looked up at the two heroes. "You don't tell the team who I am, and you don't tell them about my family."

Those words hurt Paula deeply, that her daughter felt ashamed of her family. She had to resist the urge to cry. But she couldn't fault her daughter for wanting to keep the family a secret, not after the things that Lawrence, Jade, and she did.

"Your private life is your business, and no one else's." Batman said.

Green Arrow nodded his agreement. "It's not like you're the first superhero with a secret identity, I can introduce you to the team as my protégé and my niece if you want." He offered. "It will be believable since we both have fabulous blond hair." He said as he ran a hand through his own blond hair.

Artemis smiled happily.

"Then, I'm in. I'm so in!"

It all seemed like a dream.

"_Talk about your rabbit holes…because this is my kind of Wonderland."_

OoOoO

**Authors note**

I know you all probably want to throw virtual tomatoes at me for taking so long to add Artemis and for taking so long to update, but please hold your tomatoes until the end of the AN.**  
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First off I would like to thank Jazbez who helped edit this chapter and he also gave creative advice. All of you should thank him to since this chapter would have taken a extra week without his help.

Also the Superman conversation...technically Superman's mind eraser kiss was from the movies and a few comic books, and the Rainbow shooting powers are from the silver-age, but technically he COULD have the powers in the YJ universe, he just never uses them publicly. I also have a picture of him with it on my profile along with a few others if anyone's interested.

This was a long chapter 17k words, my hands are exhausted. I'm also going to take a short break, I need time to refuel my creativity, play video-games, watch foreign movies, and other things. I also want to work on writing fight scenes, I'm still not good at it.

I also wrote this entire chapter doped up on pain pills, Pelvis is healing nicely. But I really cant catch a break since next month I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled out.

The only thing that kept me writing was the notorious fanfic "My Immortal" I read it several times and as I wrote this chapter I kept saying to myself. "My writings bad, but at least Ill never be as bad as they guy who wrote 'My Immortal'."

Coldblue- I don't hold my chapters hostage if I don't get enough reviews...although that is a interesting Idea. Overall It just depends on my creative mood, free-time, and whenever I'm happy with a chapter. So update times vary greatly.

Wally might seem a little brutal, but when you read comics, the Justice League does things that are just as messed-up. I also gave Wally torso holsters, because It is a good idea and I like to try and use the advice my reviewers give me. Thank you Demill1234

Thank you everyone who reviewed-

Deathstroketerminator,Coldblue,silverangel83,Crackheadblonde,Unicornsilver27,Mysticspeedforce1234,DxS4ever,Sunnybunnyluv77,Shenaniganskid,ChaosDragon,WallyWestlover,anon,  
>blackirishawk,Xoraan,Dextra2,Carolzytha LF,Demill 1934, Cary99, Joe, Thesilentboom,Jazbez, annagray, Irenerb,<p>

Please leave a review- Or I might start holding chapters hostage...I sudden have a image in my head of a author holding a chapter hostage in a building while readers fill a suitcase full of reviews and send it over. "Hand over the reviews and no one gets hurt!"


	10. Meet the Archer

Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice

OoOoO

Mount Justice, August 7,16:09 EDT

"Combat mode." Wally ordered as he observed the small mechanical robot in front of him.

The robot was one of the MONQIs he had captured on his last mission but at first glance the little robot didn't look like a monkey. Its entire body was now a dark blue color rather than the neon green it had been previously and its tail has been removed. The head had been remodeled so it now looked a bit like a skull rather than the monkey head it once had, the only thing that had remained from Ivos original design was the creatures posture and some of its old weapons.

The little robot lifted up its right arm and its handed opened up revealing a small hole in its robot hands palm.

"Fire."

Three darts shot out of the hole and lodged themselves into the labs wall. Wally lifted up his dark goggles and observed the robots handiwork.

"Not bad at all, you may resume standby mode." He said as got up and pulled the darts out of the wall. The robot obeyed and deactivated its weapons and awaited further orders from its new master.

"If I use cheap parts and improve the artificial intelligence a bit more this can be very useful for the team, and I could even make a civilian model that can help people around the house...perhaps they could even be programmed to take care of the sick, disabled and elderly, care homes would become a thing of the past..." Wally said to himself as he began to imagine all the possibilities the robot presented, he never understood how men like Ivo, Lex Luthor and other scientists could find time and money to create such magnificent machines yet never bother to imagine how helpful they could be to mankind. "I guess being evil is a 24 hour job, its not enough to want to kill Superheroes you have to want to deprive mankind of happiness as well."

Wally decided to check on his other projects. First he checked on his agricultural projects which were still failing, the beans still tasted terrible and the lemons were still unstable, and no solution could be seen. "I bet Poison ivy could help...especially since I technically borrowed the formula for rapid plant growth from her and modified it to grow these things." In truth he had simply stole all the research from her lab, he had found it fascinating how Ivy could control plant growth through chemicals, so he tried to apply it to civilian foods to perhaps help the world hunger crisis, but the results were not satisfying.

"If only she wasn't a redheaded homicidal hippy bitch." He mused out loud as he moved on to his other projects. The robot he had gotten earlier from the teams battle in happy harbor was completely disassembled and he had been studying the way each piece functioned, simply taking the robot apart had given him a great look into robotics. But the most impressive part of the robot was the power source used to power it and power its attacks.

The power source stood in the middle of the lab, it was a circular object that let out a constant light blue glow. IT constantly generated clean energy and had enough power to rival a nuclear reactor, yet it gave off no radiation or waste. Wally studied it to the best of his abilities and found it was a completely new element now on the periodic table. He made a mental note to try and create the element in a controlled setting, since this power source could be a new alternative form of energy.

Once he was done inspecting all his experiments he sat down on his work bench and began fumbling around with his guns. The energy rounds they produced were strong but he knew he needed to be able to load them alternative ammunition to add versatility. He workjed on them for a hour until he finally decided to go to bed, his mind was overworked and the sheer amount of work he had to do in his lab was overwhelming.

"I better get some sleep, Last thing I want to do is go experimenting with dangerous inventions while groggy."

OoOoO

"Taskmaster get out of bed!" Megan yelled through the door. She was currently knocked vigorously on her teammate's door in the hopes of waking the teen.

"No!"

"Get out of bed this instant! We have a big day ahead of us!"

"Ive wrote you a Haiku describing how I feel about getting up right now."

"No no no no no."

"No no no no no no no."

"No no no no no."

"I'm not leaving until you open this door and get ready for the day."

Wally rolled over in his bed and groaned. His Martian roommate refused to give up. "I'm up! Go away and nag Superboy or something!" He was not a morning person and had no idea why Megan would wake him up so early. He heard the Martian stomp off down the hall and once her footsteps faded into the distance he decided to start his morning routine.

"Good god she's a bigger nag then Iris and Barry put together…she's going to make a great ex-wife to somebody." Wally said as he hoisted himself out of bed. He was wearing his usual sleeping clothes which consisted of nothing but a pair of boxers. He walked over to his nightstand and grabbed his mask. He slipped it on his face and opening the door to his room and walked down to the bathroom he shared with Superboy. He quickly got undressed and took a shower, once he finished his shower he dried off and put on a simple shirt and pants and slipped his mask back on.

He knew that people always found it weird he wore a mask that covered his entire head, in fact it covered so much it was practically a helmet. But he would never cave into peer pressure and find a smaller mask, he had been in enough situations where knockout gas fills a room, or the villain used a mind control device to know that having complete head protection and a respirator was worth it.

"Next time one of my teammates gets hit with sleeping gas Ill just laugh at them."

He walked out into the living room where he saw Superboy watching television and Megan cooking breakfast. He walked over to Superboy and saw that he was watching children's cartoons.

_"Say map!"_ Dora chimed happily.

"Map." Superboy answered.

_"Louder!" _

"I said map!" Superboy answered angrily.

_"I can't hear you, say it louder!"_

"I SAID MAP!" Superboy yelled as he picked up the remote and prepared to throw it into the television. Before he could the remote was snatched from his hand by Taskmaster.

"No way dude, I'm not gonna let you destroy another television, you're banned from watching this cartoon." He said as he switched the channel to the TV guide to figure out what was on. "Where the hell did you learn bad language from? Swearing is a bad habit that you should avoid developing."

"You swear every chance you get; in fact you used about a million different profanities yesterday when you were playing video-games." Superboy retorted while making room on the couch for Taskmaster to sit.

"That was different; I had to swear at those assholes online because they were camping." Wally answered as he sat himself down on the couch and began to channel surf. After watching a television for a few minutes Megan told them breakfast was ready, so they switched off the television and went to the dining room to eat breakfast.

The three heroes sat down at the dining room table, Megan had prepared a omelets for each of the boys along with bacon and orange juice.

"Thanks for breakfast Megan, I love chicken omelets." Taskmaster said as he took off his mouthpiece and began eating. "It's easily the most deliciously evil food item on the planet."

"How is a chicken omelet evil?" Megan asked whilst looking down at her own food.

"You kill the chicken, and cook it in its own unborn babies, it's just plain dastardly." He said as he took a bite of his omelet. "Also you might want to use less pepper."

"Thank you for that information Taskmaster, I always love it when you say stuff like that during a meal." Superboy said as he looked at his food with uncertainty.

"You're welcome."

Despite the repulsive information both Megan and Superboy began eating. The three shared some light conversation until it was interrupted by a buzz from the other room.

"Be right back, I have laundry to check up on."Megan said as she flew off to the caves laundry room.

The second she left the room Superboy pushed his plate away. "Her cooking must be some form of cruelty." He said as he looked down at his omelet. "It tastes like she poured an entire pepper shaker into it."

"You're going to eat it and you're going to like it." Wally said as he pushed Superboys plate back in front of him. "If you must criticize her cooking make it constructive criticism and insert some flattery into it, she very sensitive. Also I don't see you cooking anything so don't complain."

"Last time I cooked you complained about it…" Superboy said stubbornly as he crossed his arms.

"Setting a bologna sandwich on fire doesn't qualify as cooking." Wally responded. "Besides I wasn't really angry about the food, I was angry about the scorch marks on the counter-tops."

Superboy ignored his roommate and turned back to his meal. Despite his complaints he ate all the food Megan had prepared for him. He was about to leave but Megan flew in and saw that he had eaten his food. So she had enthusiastically served him a second helping.

"So what are you boys planning on doing today?" Megan asked curiously as she sat down at the table and continued eating her own food.

"Nothing." Taskmaster responded as he took another bite of his omelet.

"You did that yesterday."

"I wasn't finished."

"Seriously Taskmaster you can't just do nothing all day." Megan said as she finished up her food.

"It's a free country I can do all the nothing I want, or did I wake up in North Korea and my freedoms are being stomped on by a fat midget?" He looked over and saw Megan glaring at him. "Fine…I guess I can go to the mall and maybe pick up some girls, you want to be my wing-man Superboy?"

"No." The clone responded. "Our last few trips to the mall have been terrible. I ended up breaking my jaw during one of them and you managed to embarrass me when you took me to the mall last week."

"Oh yeah…I remember…" Taskmaster said as he was pulled into a memory.

_Wally sat at a table in the food court and watched his friend do his magic. There were numerous girls talking to Superboy trying to get the clones attention. It was obvious Superboy was uncomftorable and hated all the attention but he was doing Wally a favor. _

_After a few minutes Superboy sent a girl his way, she was cute with short blonde hair._

_"Hi, my names Strawberry." She said as she sat down across from him. The name was odd and made Wally want to laugh but he kept a cool face, no point in judging a book by its cover._

_"My names Wally." He said as he took a sip from an Ice coffee he had bought earlier. _

_"Your friend said you some kind of boy genius."_

_"Well I am rather knowledgeable in several scientific fields." Wally said in an attempt to impress her._

_"That's so cool…do you mind answering a question?"_

_"Go ahead, I'm a walking encyclopedia." Wally responded happily, impressing this girl would be so easy…_

_"How come the water on the bottom of the earth, at the south pole, doesn't fall off of the earth and go into space?" She asked. All the gears in Wally's head stopped simultaneously._

_"Are you serious?" He asked._

_"Yeah it's been bugging me all day and Google isn't helping."_

_Wally took a deep breath._

_"The short answer is gravity. The long answer is gravity you complete and utter moron, your mere existence baffles me; if there is a God I pray that he has mercy on your soul." He said. _

_Strawberry grabbed Wally's Ice coffee and threw it in his face and stomped off._

_Wally wiped the cold beverage off of his face._

_"Totally worth it."_

"Superboy the very fact that her name was Strawberry should have raised a million red flags. Only a complete hippy would name their kid Strawberry." Taskmaster said as he finished his omelet.

"Well you boys aren't going to the mall." Megan said as she telepathically put the dishes into the sink and began to clear the table. "Because we are going to have a beach day, I've already invited the others."

Taskmaster sighed. "That's a great idea, because I love wearing a mask in the scorching hot sun." He said as he rubbed his mask.

"Not my fault you're stubborn with your identity. Also I'm going to need the two of you to assemble a grill so that we can cook our lunch. I also bought a new volleyball net so that we can all play like the people in the movies." M'gann said happily.

Taskmaster rolled his eyes.

_"I guess it beats going to school. Thank God Gotham Academy has a late start to the school year."_

OoOoO

Mount Justice, August 8, 09:43 EDT

"Hello Megan, we should hit the beach everyday!" Megan said happily as she led the entire team to the beach. It was a perfect day, the sun was shining, and the water was calm. She turned around to see her teammates and friends all in beachwear and ready to have fun. Kaldur,Robin,Superboy were all dressed to swim. Taskmaster wasn't…

"Taskmaster…why are you wearing normal clothes?' She asked curiously as she started at the boy's shirt and pants.

"Because I'm not going to expose my skin to the sun by wearing a swimsuit, I know it's hard to tell under this mask but I'm very white." He answered as he shifted in his outfit, the fabrics were designed to breathe and cool the wearer off but the sun was giving it a run for its money.

"Well since you aren't swimming would you mind assembling the grill right now?" Superboy asked as he dropped a huge box onto the ground. The grill was enormous; it was obvious Megan had gone a little crazy when she bought it. Taskmaster nodded.

"Fine."

The entire team immediately ran off into the water and began having fun while Taskmaster sat himself down next to the grill.

"With my superior intellect assembling this thing will be as easy as taking candy from a baby."

_One hour later_

"How's it going TM?" Robin asked as he looked at his friend who was still assembling the grill.

"It's going great." Taskmaster answered as he looked at the instructions.

"It's taking you a long time."

"You can't rush a grill Rob." Wally answered. "I mean just look at all these parts." Wally held up a whole bunch of parts for the grill. "They all go someplace and I don't know where they go, because these damn instructions are in Swedish. If I ever turn evil I will destroy Sweden by releasing giant cockroaches upon their land for making these damn instructions."

"So…is it going to be done soon? Because I'm getting hungry." Robin said as he rubbed his stomach.

"Don't worry Ill have this baby up in an hour."

_Another hour later_

"Well this is my first pass." Taskmaster states as he gestures to the grill, it was a complete mess and upon first looking at it you would assume it was a junk pile.

Megan sighed. "Wow...did you lose the directions?"

"I know it looks like a lump of metal but it's going to be a grill, and the directions were useless since they were in Swedish." Wally explained. "Also I lost some parts…I got angry and threw stuff."

"That would explain this large metal strut that destroyed the sand castle I was making." M'gann said as she handed Taskmaster the missing piece.

"Don't worry Meg, I'm gonna whip this thing into shape."

"Don't worry Taskmaster; my expectations are low at this point." She responded. "If you need me I'll be playing volleyball with the others."

"I'm glad to see you have such confidence in my abilities." Taskmaster said sarcastically as he sat himself in front of the grill and began fixing it.

_Much later_

_"So you're assembling a grill?"_

"Yup and its going great, I'm affixing the last piece now." Wally said over his cell phone. He was holding it up to his ear as he looked over the last piece he had to affix to the grill. After so long he finally managed to put it together correctly and he was simply savoring the moment.

_"What's up with our voice? It's all robotic and weird."_

"We must have a bad connection." Wally lied; he looked up and saw Robin approaching him. "Sorry to cut our talk short but I have to go."

_"What? We barely talked Wall-"_ He shut off his phone and put it away.

"Who were you talking to TM?" Robin asked as he approached his friend.

"A friend." Was his answer as he affixed the final piece onto the grill. "And now we are ready to cook." He pushed the start button and the grill immediately began to heat up.

"I don't understand how you can be a scientist yet you take an eternity to assemble a small gas powered grill." Robin said as he walked over and looked at the cooking device.

"It's one of the great mysteries of the universe." Wally said as he started up the grill, he pulled out a bag of hotdogs from a cooler.

"A bigger mystery is why hotdogs come in ten packs while hotdog buns only come with eight?" Robin asked as he watched Taskmaster cook their lunch.

"The reason is strictly business, your standard-issue hot dog, a product that generations of consumers have found to be convenient, comes ten to the pound. Jumbo hot dogs come eight to the pound, and occasionally you'll see some symptom of wretched excess that comes four to the pound. If you've got 10,000 pounds of hot dogs, therefore, you know you've got 10,000 packages. A few packers deviate from this rule and give you, say, eight standard dogs per 12-ounce package, but they're in the minority." He said as he put the hotdogs on the now hot grill, once they were cooking he continued his explanation. "The reason for the buns being in eight packs is that bakers just don't like tens. They prefer dozens, or more generally, multiples of three and four, notably four, six, eight, and twelve. These quantities lend themselves to compact packaging — three rows of four, two rows of three, two slabs of two by two (e.g., hamburger buns), and so on. Ten lends itself only to one row of ten or two rows of five, which are seldom compact shapes. Therefore, the baking mind-set — and here's where we start getting into anthropology — is such that you instinctively regard ten as an unwieldy number. When the pioneers of bun baking were trying to figure out how to package their product, they probably figured what the hey, eight makes a squarish package, so that's what we'll go with, without even considering the unique circumstances that made ten more appropriate."

Robin rubbed his head as he absorbed all that information.

"Tell me TM how does it feel being an insufferable know-it-all?" Robin asked.

"It feels pretty good." Taskmaster said as he used a fork to spear one of the hotdogs that looked like it was finished. He took a bite and was satisfied with the taste. "Call the others, because lunch is ready."

Robin called everyone over and soon they were all eating lunch together on the beach. Taskmaster couldn't help but smile.

_"This day couldn't get any better."_He thought to himself as he ate his hotdog. "Nothing could possibly ruin my good mood."

OoOoO

Mount Justice, August 8, 19:53 EDT

"You nervous Artemis?" Green Arrow asked as he looked at his new protégé as she checked over her costume and equipment. Both of them were standing next to the Zeta tube that would bring them to Mount Justice.

"Of course not Ollie, I'm only going to join a team of experienced crime fighting teenagers." Artemis said sarcastically. She was trying to be calm but she couldn't, she needed to make a good first impression. She already knew the team was a tight knit group and she didn't want to end up being the third wheel. She hated being nervous, she was usually very confident in her abilities but now she was going to meet a group of people who were probably stronger then she was. She didn't want to be the weakest link.

Green Arrow chuckled at the girl's nervousness. "Relax Artemis they don't bite." He said trying to soothe the girl's fears. "Just be yourself."

Artemis sighed. "The whole point of me being introduced to them as your niece is so that I'm not myself." Artemis said as she checked herself over again making sure every part of her costume was spotless.

"Just relax, the entire team got back from a day out on the beach so they're in a good mood. This is the best time to introduce you to them."

Artemis nodded. "Let's just do this." She said in an attempt to get this over with. The two of them walked up to the phone booth and Green arrow entered first. Once he was safely teleported she got into it. This would be her first teleportation so she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

"I hope this doesn't hurt." She said as light engulfed her and sent her to Mount Justice. A second passed and she found herself standing next to Ollie in a cave, she heard about the cave from her new mentor but she had no idea it was so…nice. She thought it would be dark but it was well lit and had a homely feel. Green Arrow led her into the caves main meeting area where she saw Batman, Red Tornado, and the Team waiting for them…or rather the team was sitting around while two members had an argument.

"You're crazy the Easter Bunny has powerful legs he would beat the crap out of him." Robin stated as he debated with Taskmaster. His best friend simply shook his head.

"The Easter Bunny might have strong legs but Santa Claus has the upper hand, candy canes can get really sharp and can totally mess a dude up." Taskmaster retorted.

"Just listen to yourself! The Easter Bunny is huge; proportionally he has the strength of ten Kangaroos and could crush a dude's chest cavity with a single kick, not to mention his sharp teeth."

"Santa has a sleigh full of armaments and a bag full of potential weapons, not to mention the fact he has a huge team of reindeer backing him up and they all have sharp horns. The Easter Bunny is simply a dead rabbit."

"Now you're just making stuff up." Robin said, not believing a word his best friend was saying.

"Let's not forget the original folklore where Santa was a demon who would punish naughty children by eating them, so basically the Easter bunny would get sacrificed on a dark alter in Santa's dread fortress of dark Christmas evil." Taskmaster finished happily.

"Now I'm certain your making that up, where the hell do you get this information?"

Batman stepped forward. "That's enough you two, nobody cares about who would win in a fictional fight between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny." Batman said as he walked between the two boys. "Besides…we have company." All eyes turned to Green arrow and Artemis.

Artemis steeled herself and walked forward towards the group with Green arrow walking alongside her. She wanted to applaud herself for staying so cool while being in the same room with some of these famous heroes. Batman gestured towards her and began to introduce her to the group.

"Team this is Artemis, she is your new teammate." Batman said as he gestured toward the female archer. "She is Green Arrows niece and will be filling in the role as this teams long range support."

Artemis walked up to the team who were all standing alongside each other and observing the new girl. Artemis did her best to ignore their scrutinizing gaze. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you and I'm honored to have been invited to join this team." She said in a cordial tone, and waited for the team's reaction.

She didn't have to wait long because M'gann flew over and began to introduce herself enthusiastically. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my names M'gann." She said happily she grabbed the archer's hand which made Artemis flinch instinctively. She wasn't used to such casual human contact but she managed to jeep her cool as M'gann led her and began introducing her to the team. The Martian introduced her to everyone in the team and Artemis was happy at how well received her joining the team was.

Aqualad was very polite and gave her a warm welcome. Robin was very enthusiastic and welcomed her to the team happily. Superboy simply gave her a quick greeting, but Artemis didn't let that bother her since he just seemed like the strong silent type. She turned to greet Taskmaster; she saw the masked teen inspecting a arrow, one of _her_ arrows.

Artemis reached into her quiver and sure enough one of her arrows was missing. _"When did he get that chance to take one and why didn't I feel him take it?" She _mentally asked herself as she watched the boy. She was about to ask him what he was doing but he beat her to the punch.

"So your Green Arrows niece?" Taskmaster asked as he turned the arrow over in his hand and inspected the tip.

"Yes I am, and I would appreciate it if you didn't take my property without permission." She said as she held out her hand. Taskmaster reluctantly handed the arrow over and Artemis put it back in her quiver.

_"Recognized Speedy B06."_ The computer chimed in, interrupting the team meeting.

"Well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow." Red Arrow said as he entered the cave and joined everyone in the briefing room.

_"Oh my god that name is so original I might pass out." _Taskmaster thought as he watched the red clad archer walk into the room.

"Roy?" Green Arrow asked not believing his former sidekick had appeared. "You look-"

"Replaceable." Red Arrow interrupted while gazing at Artemis, the girl glared in response.

"It's not like that, you told me you were going solo." Green Arrow said trying to ease the tension that had enveloped the room. All eyes were on Green Arrow and his former sidekick, all eyes except Taskmasters. He took this opportunity to study Artemis, he observed her costume, mannerisms, and went over all the information he knew about the girl. Nothing seemed to add up, why would she be in Gotham if she was Green Arrows sidekick, and why would she also be a great archer unless she had been training for years? Nothing seemed to add up and Taskmaster vowed to get to the bottom of it.

"I see you didn't waste any time in finding a sub, can she even use that bow?" Roy asked.

"Yes she can." Artemis said walking up to the aggravated archer. "If you need proof we can start a archery tournament right now."

"She is not your replacement." Aqualad said in a attempt to defuse the situation before it could turn ugly. "We have always wanted you on the team and we have to quota on archers."

Roy shook his head. "I'm not here to join your team; I'm here because I need help." He said while activating the caves hologram screens. "Dr. Serling Roquette, a nano-robotics genius who was kidnapped by the League of Shadows two weeks ago."

"And you want us to rescue her?" Robin asked.

"I already rescued her." Red Arrow turned around and brought up several more screens. "But she was forced to develop these nano-bots called the FOG they can disintegrate anything in their path like concrete, steel, flesh, and bone. They can store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen Intel to the shadows, providing them access to weapons, cutting edge science and tech."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking. Yup it sounds like the shadows." Artemis finished casually.

Taskmaster scoffed. "Oh God yes lets all be afraid of the League of shadows." He said sarcastically. "They have such a scary name it's almost as scary as the organization in the Hit-man videogame that calls themselves _The organization_."

Artemis turned to Taskmaster. "The League of Shadows isn't a joke you idiot they are serious assassins."

"Right…worst case scenario is that their leader tries to hook me up with his daughter like they did with Bat-OWW" Taskmaster was cut off by Batman smacking him in the back of his head. "Dude don't blame me just because you screwed things up with Tali-OWWW!" Robin punched him in the arm.

"That's enough Taskmaster, this is a serious situation." Batman growled.

"Batman's right, the League of Shadows will target her; she's currently working on a Virus that will render the FOG inoperable. I have her stashed at a local high schools computer lab." Roy said as he brought up a holographic picture of the Happy harbor high school.

"If it's serious then we should go and protect the doctor together." Green Arrow said to his sidekick in hopes of mending their friendship.

"Don't you want to take your new protégé?" Red Arrow asked while looking at Artemis.

Green Arrow was about to retort but Batman silenced him with one of his Bat-glares. He knew that the right thing to do would be to suggest the team.

"You brought this to the team so this is their mission, which means it's also her mission." He gestured towards Artemis.

"Fine, then I guess that means you don't need me here anymore." Red Arrow began to walk out of the cave and towards the Zeta tubes.

_"Recognized Speedy B06."_

"That's Red Arrow B06 update." Red Arrow said right before he was enveloped in the Zeta tubes light.

Taskmaster watched the teen leave and smiled deviously. He watched as everyone left for the hangar bay to get on the Bio-ship, once he was alone he cleared his throat.

"Computer change last entry to Douche bag B06"

_"Change accepted, Red Arrow revised to Douche bag B06."_

_Taskmaster chuckled._

"Man I am such an asshole sometimes…but I'm strangely comfortable with that."

OoOoO

**Happy Harbor, August 8, 21:53**

"Everything is clear out here." M'gann said over her communicator. She was standing on top of Happy Harbor High schools roof with Superboy, they were keeping a eye open for intruders while the rest of the team protected Dr. Serling Roquette.

"_Very good Miss Martian, now link us up, we do not want the shadows intercepting our comm."_ Aqualad said over his communicator. After a few seconds Miss Martian hooked everyone up telepathically.

"TM take off your mouthpiece so you can join us in the telepathic link." Robin said to his friend who sitting across from him.

"Don't have to since I made a design upgrade." Taskmaster explained as he fumbled with his mask, he pushed a small button on the side and he heard a tiny bit of noise as the gears in his mask began to move causing a layer of lead to be moved inside the mask, essentially opening it up to telepathy. _"Just link me up whenever your ready. But I'm closing if we end up fighting a telepath."_

"_As if working in a computer lab wasn't bad enough I have to listen to teen speak in my head."_ Dr. Roquette said over the telepathic link. Everyone ignored her complaint and simply kept watch while she worked. Aqualad decided to break the silence.

"_The Virus won't be of much use unless we find the weapon, can you find it?"_ The Atlantean asked as he looked over the doctor's shoulder and observed her work.

"_My utility fog is not a weapon its science, brilliant science."_ Dr. Roquette said proudly.

"_There's nothing brilliant about it."_ Taskmaster said offhandedly as he got up from his seat and began to walk over to the doctor's computer. _"All you've done is create another weapon that can be used for the destruction of society; you have nothing to be proud of."_

"_And who the hell are you to judge me?"_ The doctor asked as she turned to the teen. "_Technology like this paves the way for future development, just like the Atom bomb did in World War two paved way for nuclear research."_

Taskmaster shook his head. "You people are all alike; technology like this has nothing beneficial to add to society. In my eyes your invention is similar to the Atom bomb, it was the ultimate corruption of my ideals — science and determination harnessed for destruction. While weapons like guns and tanks can serve humanitarian purposes the Atom bomb had only one objective, kill as many people as possible. Your FOGs only purpose is to steal things and what it cannot steal it seeks to destroy."

"How dare you! I should kick your-"

"Enough!" Aqualad yelled, causing everybody in the room to go silent. "We have enough problems with the League of Shadows without turning on each other; we should all calm down and get back to work."

"My point still stands Kaldur, scientists like her would make cancer airborne and contagious if they could." Taskmaster continued but he was silenced by a glare from Kaldur.

"I think you and Artemis should join M'gann and Superboy on patrolling the outer perimeter." The Atlantean suggested, however by his tone everyone could tell it was an order rather than a suggestion.

"_Fine."_ Taskmaster conceded as he began to walk out of the room, he looked back at Artemis. "Hurry up Blondie we got border patrol.

Artemis bit her tongue and followed the masked teen, leaving Robin and Kaldur behind to protect the doctor. She walked up alongside the teen and they both joined M'gann outside the school watching the perimeter.

"_The doctor has started the tracking virus; chances are the League of Shadows will track her here, so keep your eyes open."_ Aqualad ordered telepathically to the entire team.

Taskmaster looked Artemis; the girl was leaning against the outer wall of the school. The girl was a mystery to the boy, a mystery he planned on unraveling. He planned on questioning the girl but she beat him to it.

"So…what the hell kind of a name is Taskmaster?"

OoOoO

**Philadelphia, August 8, 21:57 EDT**

Professor Ojo relaxed in his seat on the League of Shadows private plane. He was about to take a sip of complimentary wine when his computer began beeping, he hit a key on his computer and saw that was trying to track him. He opened up a communications link with Sensei.

"Roquette is attempting to track us." He said to the image of Sensei. "But that link is a two way street, I'm sending you her coordinates now."

Sensei stopped his daily meditation to look at the coordinates. "Happy Harbor Rhode island…who do we have near there?" The elderly man asked.

"Cheshire is nearby and I can have both Black Spider and Hook there in no time at all." Ojo answered.

"Send Cheshire in, but have Hook and Black Spider go in case she need s backup."

"Will that be enough sir?" Ojo asked. "The Doctor is not a fool, she would not have attempted to track the FOG unless she was confident we wouldn't be able to touch her."

Sensei considered these words for several seconds. While he was confident in his three best assassins one could never be too careful.

"I'm confident in our main teams ability to neutralize the doctor."

OoOoO

"I'm just saying that it's a weird name, no need to get so defensive." Artemis said in an attempt to salvage the situation. She was currently in the process of learning that Taskmaster had no sense of humor when it came to his hero name.

"I'm not defensive; you're the one attacking me." Taskmaster retorted.

M'gann simply sat back and watched the two bicker like an old married couple. She rarely saw human male and female interaction outside of television and found it fascinating. While this current argument between Taskmaster and Artemis was nothing like the sitcoms or romance movies she watched she couldn't help but find it…exciting. _"The suspense is terrible…I hope it'll last."_ She thought to herself as she watched Artemis deliver her retort.

"I'm just saying it's a weird name. Taskmaster sounds like something you would order on a late night infomercial." Artemis said, causing Taskmaster to get angrier. "New! From the people who brought you the veggie-master and the salad-master we bring you the Taskmaster!" Artemis finished while gesturing towards Taskmaster.

"Like your one to talk, your name is Artemis!" Taskmaster retorted. "Either you're extremely unimaginative or you have a serious hard-on for Greek mythology."

"It's my name." Artemis responded.

"I know it's your name, and I'm saying you were very unimaginative when you picked it."

"No! I mean it's my actual name, as in the name I was given at birth." She finished in a tired voice; she _really_ hated it when people talked about her name.

"Oh…." Taskmaster muttered, for the first time he was completely at a loss for words. "Well…I guess it's a decent first name. But that just means you're even lazier then I thought since you used your actual name as your hero name."

"Since you're so creative, I want to see you come up with a better name." She challenged, this conversation was becoming tiresome, yet she was strangely enjoying the verbal sparring. Getting this guy upset was very fun.

"Let's see…there's Arrowette." He offered but Artemis simply snorted in response. "Fine…since Artemis is the Goddess of the moon and the hunt you could call yourself Huntress it's a-" Taskmaster stopped talking when he saw the blonde girls body stiffen, a untrained eye would have missed her body language but Taskmasters eyes picked up on every single movement her body made. "Is…something wrong?"

Artemis shook her head. "Of course there's nothing wrong, except for the fact those names sucked." She lied, in truth hearing the word huntress leave the boy's lips made her freeze up. For a second she wondered if the Taskmaster knew about her secret, but quickly dismissed those thoughts. There was no way he could have guessed her identity so quickly and she trusted Batman and Green Arrow to keep their mouths shut.

Their conversation was interrupted by Superboy leaping down from the schools roof next to them.

"_The two of you talk so loudly I could hear you from across the school."_ The clone said over their telepathic link. _"If you're going to argue you should do it telepathically."_ He began to walk off to continue patrolling the perimeter.

"Mmmm that boy." Artemis mused out loud, causing Superboy to turn back and look at the girl. He merely turned away and continued his patrol. M'gann sent the girl a death glare.

"_You do realize that we can hear you?"_ The Martian telepathically asked. _"We can ALL hear you."_

"_Oh I know."_ Was the archer's response. Before M'gann could respond to the girl, Aqualad interrupted.

"_The Doctor has found the location of the FOG. Miss Martian prep the Bioship for human use, Superboy and Robin will go out and attempt to stop the FOG while the rest of us protect the doctor."_

M'gann brought the Bioship down from the sky and landed it in the schools courtyard. Both Robin ran out of the school and boarded it and Superboy soon followed. The two boys took off leaving the rest of the team behind; unbeknownst to the three remaining heroes a pair of catlike eyes watched them from a distance before finally disappearing into the underbrush.

The three teens continued to watch the main entrance to the school in silence. Taskmaster could practically feel the awkwardness in the air between the two girls; finally M'gann decided to speak up.

"_You embarrassed Superboy."_ The Martian said to Artemis, the archer merely smirked.

"_I didn't hear him say anything."_ She responded confidently. Taskmaster shook his head at the girl's lack of observation.

"_I read his body language, he wasn't embarrassed but he was aggravated." _Taskmaster said plainly.

The archer glared at the boy. _"And since when are you the master of body language?"_

"_My abilities enable me to copy a person by memorizing their movements, which means my eyes are capable of observing every single movement of the body to even the tiniest detail. When you hit on him he stiffened up his chest muscles and tightened his jaw, he only does those during combat or when he's upset. Since he wasn't fighting a super villain its obvious you're flirting put him off."_ Taskmaster explained in a bored tone.

"_What the hell would you know? I don't see a psychology degree on you."_ Artemis growled. Taskmaster was about to retort but his Martian teammate beat her to it.

"_Must you challenge everyone you meet?"_ M'gann asked angrily.

Artemis sighed at the girl's naivety. _"Where I come from that's how you survive."_ She had always survived by challenging the people around her, it worked in Gotham North where no kid would mess with her and even thugs in her neighborhood knew to stay away.

"_If the two of you are challenging each other for Superboys affections I have an idea." _Taskmaster said. _"The two of you should get in bathing suits and have a jello wrestling completion, whoever wins gets Superboy. I will have to record it in order to judge and determine the winner so-OWWW!"_

Taskmaster rubbed the spot on his head where Megan had just slapped him. The Martian girl gave the boy one of her patented glares.

"_Taskmaster if you say anything like that again I will telepathically crush your balls." _ M'gann said in a casual but dangerous tone.

"_Damn…when did you get so violent?"_ He asked while taking a nervous gulp. The idea of his balls being crushed telepathically caused him to mentally wince.

"_Around the same time I realized the best way to get a human male to shut up is to threaten his greatest design flaw."_ She responded simply. _"I also watch you threaten people when you play video games in the cave."_

Taskmaster didn't want to say anything else to make the girls angry since he was outnumbered so he decided to leave._ "Well ladies in order to avoid further threat to my balls I will give the place a quick patrol and leave you to your girl talk, try not to claw out each others throats while I'm gone."_ Taskmaster said as he walked away from the two girls. He began to walk around the school and watched for any breach in the perimeter.

Everything seemed fine until he heard a rustling behind him. In one swift motion he pulled out one of his pistols and turned around and scanned the area. The place was completely empty but he wasn't going to be fooled. He activated his thermal vision and found heat imprints on the ground. He looked closely and found them…odd. It almost looked like they were made by a cat but they were too big.

"_Guys I found a heat trail that could be human but it could also be an animal. Be on guard because this might be a perimeter breach."_ He said over the telepathic link.

"_We can't take any risks."_ Aqualad responded. _"Taskmaster you pursue the footsteps and Ill protect the doctor. M'gann and Artemis will stay outside and ensure nothing gets in, it could be a diversion to create a breach in our perimeter."_

The Team gave their acknowledgements of the order and got to work. Artemis guarded the main entrance while Megan began to fly around the school on continuous patrol. Taskmaster followed the heat trail and found it led to an open window. He climbed through the window and found himself in the school's gym area; he was currently in the room that housed a indoor swimming pool. He used his masks thermal vision to track the heat trail but found it ended at the edge of the pool.

"_A cat wouldn't swim which means-" _He didn't get a chance to finish that thought because he heard the very soft sounds of footsteps behind him. He turned around and managed to block a strike that was meant for his head, he looked at his assailant and found it was woman in c white mask. Before he could observe his opponent further she leapt away and got into a fighting stance.

"You're a clever boy, your one of the few people in this world who has ever managed to survive one of my ambushes." She said playfully.

Taskmaster chuckled. "I was trained by the very best." He said in an attempt to stall for time, he took in every detail of his opponent and searched his memory for criminals that matched her description. He finally remembered reading up a file in the Batcave computer that matched the girl's description and all the information Batman had gathered on her. "But it's still quite a compliment coming from Cheshire the feline assassin. I'm a little sad I was hoping the league of Shadows would send Sportsmaster. I was looking forward to a rematch with him, since our last fight was cutoff when he ran away like a coward."

Cheshire's eyes widened slightly but it was hidden by her mask. She didn't expect t the boy to know so much about her or her father but she decided to keep her cool. "Sorry to disappoint, you'll just have to deal with me." The seconds those words left her lips she ran at the boy and quickly closed the distance between them.

She darted forward, leapt up in the air and launched a spinning kick at her opponent but he simply rolled to the side. Her kick landed in the empty space that just a moment ago had contained Taskmaster. She looked over to the side and saw Taskmaster enter his own combat stance.

"_Guys I have confirmation on an assassin."_ Taskmaster said over his mental link to the rest of the team. _"Unknown if there are any others so protect the doctor."_

"_Where are you?"_ Aqualad asked. _"I'll send backup."_

"_I don't need backup for this, just protect the doctor."_

"_But-"_

Taskmaster mentally cut him off and turned his attention to his opponent.

"You know you don't have a chance little boy." She claimed as she charged at Taskmaster.

"I don't know nothing!" Taskmaster responded right before they clashed in a whirlwind of fists, feet, knees and elbows.

Cheshire pulled on every little bit of Martial Arts knowledge she could recall, but much to her surprise the boy knew all the blocks and weak points of the styles she used. It was almost as if he knew every style, she heard about Taskmasters power but she had refused to believe it. But seeing it herself she began to believe the rumors.

Their fight eventually left the gym and they worked their way into the schools hallways which were deserted. The only things in the halls were lockers and the occasional trashcan. Cheshire decided to pull out a fighting style she had developed herself, it was a mixture of Muay Thai with Wing Chun, flowing from Aikido to Tae Kwon Do. Her strategy worked because Taskmaster was unprepared for one of her kicks and she hit him right in the chest, causing him to be flung backwards and he hit his back against one of the school lockers, leaving behind a sizable dent.

Taskmaster quickly picked himself up and shrugged off the pain in his back. He got into a fighting stance and prepared for Cheshire's follow-up attack. He watched as the masked assassin got into a fighting stance and charged at him once again, the woman used her fighting style once more but this time Taskmaster was ready. He had memorized her movements from earlier and was able to predict her attacks. He easily blocked her blows and used her own fighting style against her. He delivered a kick to her chest that was a perfect copy of the one she gave him and sent her flying into a locker across the hall. She groaned and slumped to the floor but managed to recover quickly.

Cheshire picked herself up and glared at the teen. "Who taught you those moves?" She asked with venom in her voice. "I practiced and developed that fighting style for years!"

"You just taught me those moves when you used them against me." Taskmaster answered, causing the girls eyes to widen. "You also taught me these!" He quickly launched himself at her and the two of them began to throw and receive punches.

"Impossible it took me years to master these abilities." She said, while blocking one of his punches.

"Years for you, but only seconds for me." He answered smugly.

Cheshire tried to keep her attacks unpredictable and random in an attempt to throw Taskmaster off but it was obvious that she was merely holding him off. She had lost the element of surprise and was already suffering because of it. The worst part was that Taskmaster started to talk.

"So I've been thinking about buying a monkey." Taskmaster said as he dodged one of Cheshire's punches and retaliated with a roundhouse kick. "Just think of all the things you could train a monkey to do, there are literally mans true best friend."

"You talk too much, and I'm more of a cat person." Cheshire replied as leapt into the air to deliver an aerial kick to Taskmasters head. The boy surprised her by activated a energy shield on his arm and brought it in front of him. He foot connected with the energy shield and it simply pushed her away. "You really do have some interesting toys…" She muttered.

Taskmaster continued talking as if nothing had happened. "I just think monkeys can serve us in so many ways." He said as he threw his energy shield at Cheshire, she simply ducked under it and retaliated by throwing several poison shurikens. Taskmaster activated his energy claws and used them to slice through the shurikens before they could hit him. "If I had a monkey I would teach it to download porn for me, I estimate this would give me about ten hours of additional free time a day. Of course I would need to find a monkey with a taste in pornography similar to mine…but how hard could it be to find a monkey who likes girls in latex?"

"Do you think this is a game?!" Cheshire asked angrily as she attacked Taskmaster again. This was becoming boring and she wanted to end this quickly.

"Do you play an games?" He asked curiously as he ducked beneath one of her high kicks.

"I don't waste my time with games."

"Well the bad news for you is that I do." He responded as he reared back his fist. "**Falcon Punch!" **Taskmaster yelled as he delivered a vicious punch to Cheshire's jaw, cutting her sentence short. The strike sent the girl flying backwards and she clutched her jaw in pain, even with her mask on the attack hurt."Games can teach you amazing fighting moves."

Cheshire decided to flee, the element of surprise was gone and she wasn't sure if she could fight this guy on equal ground when all he did was copy her. She got up and ran down the hallway of the school. She threw several packs of round metal balls behind her as well as some caltrops in hopes of slowing her opponent down.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the boy wasn't slowed down in the least. Taskmaster si9mply jumped over the caltrops and continued pursuing her, she knew she couldn't outrun him forever so She turned around and unsheathed her collapsible katana, intent on running the boy through. Taskmaster charged at Cheshire who responded by performing several stabbing attacks with her katana but Taskmaster simply sidestepped them.

"How are you copying me?" She asked angrily as she delivered a vicious stab aimed right at her opponent's abdomen. Taskmaster simply sidestepped it and quickly grabbed her outstretched wrist with his left hand and twisted it, causing Cheshire to scream in pain.

"I'm an observant person." Taskmaster responded as he reared back his right fist back and delivered a punch to the girl's chest. Cheshire was flung backwards and hit her back against a wall. The second she hit the wall a green arrow hit her beneath the arm and pinned her body armor to the wall, the arrows head opened up and released sleeping gas, Cheshire began to cough until she appeared to pass out.

Taskmaster turned around and saw Artemis standing behind him with her bow in her hand. The girl stood there smirking and admiring her shot, she walked up to Taskmaster.

"I had the situation in hand." Taskmaster growled, he didn't like it when people interrupted his fights. "And shouldn't you be helping Kaldur protect the doctor from other assassins?"

Artemis rolled her eyes at the boy. "Yeah I can tell you really had things well in hand." She said while gesturing to the boy's state, he looked a bit beat-up and was panting deeply from his fight with Cheshire. "And for the record League of Shadows assassins work alone when making the first hit, they only work in groups when a target is too well defended for one of their agents."

"You seem to know a awful lot about the League of Shadows…" Taskmaster mused out loud; he walked alongside Artemis as they approached the prone form of Cheshire.

Artemis didn't care for the boys tone one bit, he seemed way too suspicious. "Are you accusing me of something?" She asked angrily.

"It just seems awfully unusual is all." He mused. "You appear out of nowhere with no previous vigilante history and claim to be Green Arrows niece from Star city."

"So what? Do you memorize every single vigilante in the world?"

"Yes." He answered plainly. "I memorize everything about every hero and villain with my photographic memory so that I can master their abilities or at the very least be prepared for them, and not a single bit of information about you has turned up. No new site has reported you, and there are no witnesses to your heroic deeds. "He stated causing Artemis to pause mid-step. "I recognized your arrowhead so I know it was you who saved me that night, and I find it odd that you were in Gotham city when you should have been in Star city."

"Maybe you should be thanking me instead of interrogating me; I did save your life." Artemis said as she leaned down to Cheshire's prone form and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Taskmaster stood behind her and observed her as she was about to put the handcuffs on Cheshire.

He saw Cheshire's right hand move ever so slightly, and in the blink of an eye he leapt forward and wrapped his arms around Artemis and pulled her back just as Cheshire pulled out a hidden dagger and slashed the space Artemis had previously occupied. Taskmaster landed roughly on the floor with Artemis in his lap, they both looked up and saw Cheshire pick herself up.

"Nice try with the gas arrow but this mask has filters." She pulled out a smoke grenade and threw it on the ground. "It's been fun kids, but looks like we're going to have to play later." Her voice rang out through the hallway. Taskmaster pushed Artemis off of him and activated his masks thermal vision, but there was no trace of Cheshire in the hallway, not even a heat trail.

"Wonderful…" He muttered angrily, he walked over to Artemis and offered her his hand, the girl accepted it and he helped her up. "That was a complete failure, we're going to have to move the doctor and find a more defensible position."

Artemis nodded. "Yeah, we need to move before more show up, let's get going Bassmaster." She said as she began walking away.

"Bassmaster?" He questioned. "So is that what you're going to do now? Just put random words in front of Master?"

Artemis smirked.

"Let's hurry it up Gruntmaster, we don't have all day."

OoOoO

Robin and Superboy had been tracking the FOG for what felt like an eternity. The Bioship glided through the air easily as it followed the trail of the FOGs destruction. Suddenly the computer started beeping and Robin looked at the monitor screen.

Robin activated his communicator.

"_Robin to Aqualad, we're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target, STAR Labs."_ He looked at the monitor and it showed a picture of STAR Labs and the building was slowly crumbling. _"We're too late, it's completely destroyed and all of the labs secrets are in the hands of the enemy."_

"_That's not good." _Kaldur said over the communications line._ "We also came under attack and must move the doctor to a new location; you and Superboy will have to continue on your own."_

_"Understood." _Robin said right as he turned off his communicator, the Boy Wonder turned to Superboy who was relaxing in the seat next to him._  
><em>

"Looks like its just us, you ready Superboy?"

Superboy nodded. "I'm ready, but do you think the others will be fine?"

Robin let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry about it, Aqualad will keep everyone safe, and even so the rest of the team is competent and strong enough to take care of themselves, whats the worst that could happen?"

OoOoO

**Authors Note**

Good God I'm sorry you guys but I have not felt inspired to write anything YJ related for a long time and the time-skip as well as the slowness of the episodes is killing me. Just know that I will not be abandoning this story even if the updates come really slowly.

Also the bit in the chapter about the Atom bomb has no political statements in it, I just put it there to show Wally what type of scientist Wally is. In case it wasn't obvious he believes that all inventions should have a humanitarian purpose, something like a bomb only has a violent purpose.

I also need to thank you for the massive amount of reviews you gave me which encouraged me to write this chapter. I would also like to apologize for this chapters messiness since I have no one to correct it, and I also wrote each part at irregular intervals of time so the flow might be weird. Also this is the first time I'm cutting a episode of the show into 2 parts so It might feel a bit awkward.

I will also be answering questions with PMs so if you have a question you want answered please specify in your reviews. Also Ive added a chapter progress thing to my profile so you can know how my work on chapters are going, this way you don't have to leave reviews asking when the next chapter is going to be posted since you can look it up yourself on my profile.

I wont be thanking everyone individually this chapter since there are far too many of you to count, just know that your reviews make me want to write more. Also this site keeps making it harder to post chapter, took me a good amount of time to post this chapter correctly.

As usual please enjoy the chapter and review.

And yes Wally can copy video game ? Because I said so and this is the DC universe, where a guy cant go to the grocery store without dealing with aliens or time travel.


	11. Assassins and Explosions

**Disclaimer- I do not own Young Justice**

OoOoO

**Happy Harbor August 8, 21:35**

"This new location is officially secured." Taskmaster declared proudly as he walked into the computer lab of their new hideout. Taskmaster had to hand it to Kaldur, the Atlantean knew how to make a plan. Currently he and Artemis were protecting the doctor in a small computer lab, only the doctor was actually Megan in disguise, while the real doctor was hidden farther down the road in a small, discreet computer store.

"It's about time you came back, you've been gone for twenty minutes." Artemis growled, her masked teammate was beginning to get on her nerves. While his attitude was a factor in her annoyance the true root of her anger was the fact she couldn't make heads or tails of him.

At first glance Taskmaster was an idiot by every definition of the word. He said stupid things, made terrible jokes, he made dumb observations, and he was obsessed with idiotic things like cartoons and pizza. But then he would say things that were so observant and on the spot that it made her wonder if it was all an act.

During this single mission he had begun to unravel the lies surrounding her identity, made keen observations about her behavior, and despite how he looked he was a genius in a fight, easily overcoming a top assassin. It was making her slowly go crazy.

She was brought out of her internal observations by the man she had been contemplating.

"I've rigged this place with enough traps to catch every single Scooby Doo villain in history. Nothing is into this place without setting off at least one of them." Taskmaster declared proudly. "My fortifications are impenetrable, this place is a fortress of awesome."

Artemis looked around the room and saw that he had blocked off most easy entry points and had no doubt rigged the few that remained with traps, but this was the League of Shadows that were coming and she doubted they would fall for any trap that Taskmaster set up. "This is a computer lab, not a castle. You can set up as many traps as you want but the League of Shadows will still find a way in." She dismissed offhandedly. Taskmaster simply turned and glared at her. Or at least she believes it's a glare. It's hard to tell with his choice in costume.

"I'm sorry Artemis but your authority is not recognized in Fort Kickass." He gestured to the newly fortified room around them. "In case you've forgotten Kaldur left me in charge while he is working the other part of the plan, which means you are under my command."

"Listen here you little-" Artemis was cut off by a sudden tingling in her head.

"_Be silent, I'm all the way down the street from you two but I can feel your argument all the way from here."_ Kaldur stated over the psychic link they all shared. _"Artemis despite how he acts Taskmaster has experience with these sort of situations so please work with him. Taskmaster you need to be more professional and not aggravate your fellow teammate." _

"_Fine" _They both chimed in, choosing to look away from each other and cease their bickering.

OoOoO

Down the street Aqualad waited in a small computer store with the real doctor as she worked. He was tempted to check up on the team but he had faith in their ability to pull this off without him micromanaging.

Others were not as confident.

"I can't believe you trust those idiots, especially that masked moron." The doctored chimed in as she typed away on her keyboard. "I wouldn't trust them to guard a bowl of jello, but as fate would have it they are now my only protection from the most dangerous assassins on earth."

Aqualad let out a small sigh. "I know they may seem unprofessional but trust me, they are good at what they do."

"And what is it that they are good at?"

"Artemis is new but I can tell she is serious and a good archer. Taskmaster is good at screwing up other peoples plans and blowing things up, which is why I have him all the way down the road as far away from me as possible."

OoOoO

Watching from the shadows Cheshire gazed upon the building that held the doctor. "Looks like skullboy and the green archer are guarding the doctor. The Martian and fish man must be out on patrol." She stated to her backup. Behind her Black spider and Hook nodded their agreement.

She couldn't help but frown at her assistants. Black Spider looked the part of a killer in his slim black outfit, and Hook looked intimidating with his muscular build and height. But she had heard that they were defeated by this very same team before. She couldn't trust them. So she decided to use them as a distraction while she snuck in and killed the doctor.

"We strike now before they return and kill the doctor. No mistakes, I heard about you two being defeated by these kids before, I won't have a repeat performance on this mission."

"That wasn't our fault, the kids ambushed us." Hook declared, upset at the young woman questioning his skills. "Besides we wouldn't need to be here if you had done your job in the first place and killed the doctor." He was cut off from continuing by Cheshire's closing the distance between the two and holding a dagger right up against the larger man's throat. "Just shut up and do your job, if you idiots get yourselves caught again I will personally kill you myself. I will not let this mission be a failure."

Hook nervously nodded and Black Spider was smart enough to stay out of the argument. The three assassins wordlessly began to move in closer to the building, intent on killing those inside and completing their mission.

OoOoO

The team waiting in the computer lab was growing bored. Megan was pretending to do work on a computer in hopes of fooling assassins that she was the Roquette, when in truth she was simply looking up cooking recipes. While Taskmaster and Artemis were engaged in conversation that was quickly turning into a battle of wills.

"So you seriously aren't going to tell me how you got your superpowers?" Artemis asked, she was trying to engage her masked teammate in conversation in hopes of making things less awkward but the boy was oddly guarded when she pried into his personal life or identity.

"I got my powers one day when I was stabbed with a hypodermic needle while I was swimming in the ball pit at a local Chucky Cheese." Taskmaster said, trying to get her to change the subject. He wasn't about to admit his powers were a fluke caused by his own stupidity.

"That's a lie, do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to believe that crap?" She asked angrily. She didn't know what was worse, his lies or that he thought she was stupid enough to fall for them.

"The truth is that I was born in a small village near a secret government-testing complex. I led a happy life but one day I was placed inside a magnetically shielded device designed to compress my molecular structure into a singularity point using gravitational fields. Now that I am a singularity point, I have the ability to see through all time and space."

"Don't believe it."

"You are right, I actually got my powers when I was bitten by a chameleon that had been dosed with energy from a magical portal that was created by a cross-dressing wizard."

"Just tell me the truth."

"My father Odin banished me from Asgard, I was then I was bitten by a vampire and had radioactive waste dumped into my eyes. To make matters worse, my meta-human ability to control weather activated just as I was hit by a blast of gamma radiation."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that lying is wrong?" Artemis growled.

"I'll have you know that there's nothing wrong with lying to women. Or the government. Or parents. Or God…or anyone really."

Before Artemis could retort a man dressed in black broke in through the front door. It was Black Spider and he was ready to engage them in combat. But before he could even get into a fighting stance the flash bang grenades that Taskmaster had setup near the front door exploded, blinding the villain and causing him to lose his hearing. He clutched his head in pain, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears. "The doors are rigged with explosives!" He yelled angrily as he tried to get over his crippling blindness.

This gave the teen heroes enough warning to leap into action and assume combat stances. Before Black spider could recover Artemis notched an arrow and shot it at the man. It hit the villain in the chest and exploded with foam which covered the criminal before rapidly hardening, immobilizing him for the rest of the fight.

Before they could celebrate a large man burst through one of the walls, effectively bypassing the traps Taskmaster had set up. It was Hook and before anyone could do anything he shot out his large hook hand, forcing both Artemis and Taskmaster to leap out of the way to avoid being crushed by its sheer power. It embedded itself into a way but was quickly drawn back by a mechanical mechanism located in his gauntleted forearm.

While all this was going on Cheshire had entered in through a small window near the ceiling. While her comrades caused chaos down below she would simply kill the doctor with a silent but effective crossbow bolt through the head. Before she could even aim her crossbow she felt her foot hit a tiny thin tripwire. She quickly looked to where the wire led and saw a small bomb arm itself.

"Son of a-"She was cut off by a large fiery explosion. She was flung to the ground floor where her back impacted the ground, causing her to wince in pain. She felt a pressure in her lower abdomen and looked down to her stomach area. A small piece of shrapnel was sticking out of it.

"You set up explosives in the building? Are you insane!?" Artemis yelled as she was showered with debris from the explosive trap. "You could bring down the entire building and bury us all!"

"Genius and insanity are two sides of the same coin! Besides who doesn't love explosions?" Taskmaster responded as he ducked his head to protect it from debris. "And the last time I was buried under a building things turned out fine."

"Damn…I can't do this. EVERYONE RETREAT!" Cheshire yelled out as she forced herself up onto her feet and ran for the door, clutching her bleeding side. Artemis saw the fleeing form of Cheshire and decided to go after her. "You two deal with Hook for brains over there, I'm chasing after the masked one!" Artemis declared as she followed the masked assassin out of the front door and into the streets.

Taskmaster wanted to pursue her but he had to quickly dodge another attack by Hook. "Damn, Megan drop the act, we both have to act quickly!" He ordered, Megan quickly dropped her guise as the doctor and used her powers to levitate several computer desks and threw them at the large criminal. Hook simply reeled his Hook arm back in and used it to smash the desks to pieces before they could strike him, sending debris all over the room.

"You little kids are going to have to do better than that!" Hook declared as he shot out his Hook arm at Taskmaster. The teen sidestepped the large hand and quickly drew his katana. In the blink of an eye he used his katana to cut the chain that connected the mechanical hand to the criminal's mechanical forearm. Rendering the hand completely useless and leaving Hook vulnerable. Megan followed this up by levitating a large metal computer desk and flinging it at the villain. Without his giant metal hand Hook couldn't protect himself and was struck in the chest by the flying desk, knocking him into a wall and effectively pinning him down. He was defeated.

"More brawn then brains." Megan declared happily. "Now what do we do?"

"You stay here and secure those guys, I'm going to make sure Artemis didn't get into trouble with that Cat Lady." He responded as he ran out of the front door, following the trail of blood that Cheshire had left behind in her escape.

OoOoO

"If I make it out of this I'm going to kill that bastard!" Cheshire yelled angrily as she hobbled down the street. She was still clutching her bleeding side, it wasn't a serious wound but it was hampering her ability to run away. "A complete mission failure…all because of him, I know it was him. Only he would be crazy enough to set up explosives…" She walked a few more paces but heard the sound of an arrow being notched and turned around. She saw a very familiar blond archer aiming a bow at her.

"Surrender now." Artemis ordered. "You're wounded, if you give up we can get you proper medical treatment before taking you into custody." Much to her surprise Cheshire began to laugh hysterically. "Stop laughing! Drop your weapons and come with me, you can't beat me when you're wounded like that."

Cheshire ceased her laughing and reached up and took off her mask and let it drop to the ground. Artemis lowered her bow the second she saw Cheshire's true face.

"You…how…" Artemis was at a loss for words but Cheshire wasn't.

"That's right little sister, it's me." Cheshire gave her younger sister a sinister smile. "I can surrender to you right now, but if I do I will be captured and interrogated. The secrets that I could reveal to your new friends…" She let that threat hang in the air.

Artemis wrestled with the decision but finally lowered her bow completely and turned away from Cheshire. "Just get the hell out of here." Cheshire smiled at that response, pleased that she had won.

"Good choice dear sister." Her smile turned deadly. "And tell that masked friend of yours to prepare himself, the next time we fight I will tear that mask of his off his dead face." Cheshire turned away from her sister and ran away as fast as she could while bleeding.

Artemis let out a frustrated sigh as she watched her sister run off, she picked up her sisters discarded mask.

"This couldn't get much worse."

OoOoO

"Well things have gotten worse..." Taskmaster muttered to himself as he stared down a dozen armed men. While pursuing Artemis he had been cut off by a large group of masked assassins before he had made it halfway down the main street.

The assassins were all dressed in standard combat gear for the League of shadows. Every inch covered in a black stealth suit, all of them armed with a variety of close quarter's weapons made out of quality materials. These men were ready for combat.

The leader of the group stepped forward. "I have a message for you." He threw down a small metal disk on the ground in front of Taskmaster. He thought it might be an explosive so he leapt back but the disk simply activated and projected a life size hologram of an aged man dressed in a kimono.

"So we finally meet." Sensei said in a calm voice as he observed the boy in front of him. "I am Sensei, one of the top members of the League of Shadows. I have come to extend an offer Mr. Taskmaster."

"Speak now." Wally ordered as he kept up his guard, he still wasn't sure what this was all about.

"I have heard about your combat prowess and it seems you have an uncanny ability to copy other peoples fighting styles, making you a very deadly individual." Sensei began. "I have come to extend an offer for you to join the League of Shadows. With your abilities you could become the deadliest assassin to ever live. If you join us and accept our training you would have no weaknesses, no fighting style you couldn't counter, with your potential you could become unbeatable. Simply name your price."

"A tempting offer." Taskmaster conceded as he slowly reached into his utility belt. "I will join you if you give me one billion dollars, a space ship, and infinite girlfriends."

Sensei was not amused.

"If you won't take this seriously then you leave me no choice. These men are specialists and will capture you alive. If you won't join us we will simply have to study your body in order to learn what has allowed you to gain your powers. " With his speech finished the hologram fizzed out of existence and the assassins lunged forward to attack Wally.

Taskmaster grabbed two smoke bombs from his belt and threw them onto the ground in front of him. They both exploded and coated the street in a thick smoke.

"Don't let him confuse you men, he's here somewhere and-ARRGG!" The leader of the assassins screamed as he was struck in the head by an energy shield. The other men were smart enough to leave the area effected by the smokescreen and wait it out.

"Wait until the smoke dissipates, he can't get us from out here!" One of the Assassins yelled as he and his men left the cloud of smoke. They surrounded the area, weapons drawn and ready. "This fight is unnecessary Taskmaster, just surrender and we can all walk away from this." One of the assassins spoke up hoping he could end the fight before it truly began.

"Blasphemy! All fights are necessary!" A voice answered from within the smoke.

"Fine then, well just wait until this smoke is gone and you're vulnerable."

"Smart, but not smart enough." He spoke up from within the smokescreen. A loud gunshot was heard and one of the assassins was struck in the chest. To everyone's surprise the man didn't die. The round simply caused foam to cover the man's body before quickly hardening, immobilizing him.

"Foam rounds, one shot and you're frozen." Suddenly an entire barrage of shots sounded off as numerous foam bullets flew out of the smokescreen hitting every single assassin and freezing them up. The smoke dissipated, leaving Taskmaster standing in the middle of a group of immobilized assassins with both his pistols drawn. "Your mistake was assuming I was only capable of fighting in close quarters."

Wally was drawn from his thoughts by a car suddenly screeching towards him. He saw a black van being driven by another masked assassin, he was speeding directly towards Taskmaster with no intention of slowing down. "These guys don't give up!" Taskmaster didn't try to run away or dodge he simply charged the van. Before the van could hit him he jumped into the air and went straight through the front windshield of the van and landed in the passenger's seat.

Taskmaster quickly regained his bearings and rammed his fist into the drivers face, knocking the man out cold. He quickly took control of the van and made it stop. He pushed the now unconscious driver out of the van and into the open street. "YES! That was so ninja, I was like Brock Sampson up in here!" Wally cheered as he reflected on what he accomplished.

"Thanks for the ride. Now if you gentlemen don't mind I have to spread my awesomeness elsewhere." He put the van into gear but was stopped by M'gann showing up.

"What the heck happened here?" The martian girl questioned as she saw the various forms of men frozen in hardened foam.

"Had to deal with some trash, be a dear and take care of them. Thanks." Before Megan could retort He put the van into gear and drove off down the street, leaving her to do all the work.

OoOoO

**Philadelphia August 8, 21:57**

"Well that was anti-climactic." Robin thought as he watched the FOG disintegrate. Both he and Superboy had been tracking the FOG this entire time and it had amounted to them having to do nothing. Once the FOG reached Wayne industries it had dissipated because of the doctor's virus working. She had been easily able to complete it thanks to the diversion team dispatching the assassins without a hitch in the plan.

"It's better than the FOG getting what it wanted right?" Superboy responded over the telepathic link. "It's nice for a plan to go off without a hitch for once." Superboy patrolled the outside of the Wayne Tech building. Eventually he saw something suspicious on top of a parking garage adjacent to the main building. A strange man in a mask was putting several canisters into a van. Superboy quickly brought the ship up above him and leapt down to the ground.

Professor Ojo was in the middle of running away when he saw Superboy begin to approach. The professor activated his helmets laser and shot a energy beam at Superboy. The clone walked towards the man and grabbed him by his helmet and slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Superboy looked down at himself. His brand new black superman shirt was now smoking and bruning away thanks to Ojos energy blast. "Thanks a lot now I have to get Taskmaster to drive me to the mall…I hate the mall."

OoOoO

"It looks like the mission was a complete success, and there was barely a hitch in the plan…I think that's a first." Kaldur stated happily outside the computer store. Doctor Roquette silently agreed and let out a breath of relief. She didn't expect the teenagers to succeed but they did.

"The important thing is that you are safe and the FOG was disabled. Superboy and Robin are currently taking the man responsible for the FOGs deployment into custody. We have won." Kaldur declared in a relived tone. As if to break his peace the sound of loud music shattered the otherwise peaceful evening as a black van began to speed its way towards the two of them. Aqualad brought out his water swords, he was prepared to do battle, that is until he saw who was driving the van.

They immediately relaxed as it drew closer and the distinctive masked form of Taskmaster made itself evident in the front seat. The teen pulled up next to them, and turned down the music that was blasting in the car.

"Check out what I jacked from those idiot assassins. This thing is tricked out, even if their taste in music is crap, nothing but eighties vomit in the CD case. "He said as he put the van into park. "So how did the rest of the mission go?"

"It went fine despite your endless efforts to avoid doing the tedious parts of this job." Megan flew up to the group and glaring at Taskmaster. "Both Hook and Black Spider have been turned in to the authorities along with a bunch of assassins who were frozen in foam. " Kaldur was pleased with the development and his teammate's quick thinking but he was confused by the fact that Artemis was missing.

As if hearing his thoughts Artemis ran up to the group clutching a painted cat mask. "Sorry I took so long but the masked woman was too fast. She managed to evade me." Artemis lied, hoping that the others wouldn't catch on.

"Its fine Artemis, the mission was a success and that was only possible because you were here to help us." Aqualad offered in an attempt to comfort the archer.

"Thanks to you the mission went off without any real errors." Megan reassured. "We captured the bad guys and saved the day."

"You mean most of the bad guys." Artemis was still angry with herself about letting her sister get away but she knew it had to be done to avoid suspicion. "I failed to catch mine while the rest of you succeeded."

"Its fine Artemis, you've more then proven yourself thus far." Kaldur put a reassuring hand on the girls shoulder. "It it good to have you here."

"It totally is, I've always wanted to have a sister…on earth that is…I have twelve of them back on Mars."

"You need to introduce me to at least one of your sisters." Wally offered as he leaned out of the van window. "But before that we need to celebrate the mission's success and the new addition to the team. So hop on in this van and let's get some pizza. I already texted Rob and Superboy to meet us at the pizza place downtown, its open 24 hours and has unlimited cheesy breadsticks so hop on in."

Seeing no other way out of the area without the bioship being present the three teen heroes got into the van.

"I'm glad that I am in costume because if anyone saw me in this awful van I would probably die from embarrassment." Artemis said as she fastened her seatbelt. Taskmaster glared at her.

"This van is awesome, if you don't like it you can get out."

"This thing is a creepy bedroom on wheels, its rolling probable cause."

"No it's not."

"It is, it has illegal window tint, no real side windows, and all that's missing is the sign offering free candy. So let's all pile into the rape-mobile."

The impending argument was cut off by Kaldur. "Just drive, we can discuss this vans creepiness after we've all eaten and gotten some sleep…it's been a long night."

Taskmaster was about to drive off but Doctor Roquette ran up to the driver's side window. "You can't just leave, the League of Shadows might still come after me. You have to keep protecting me!" She pleaded. Taskmaster reached into his utility belt and got out a piece of paper and pen. He quickly scribbled some directions on it and handed it to her.

"With the virus complete and their plans ruined I doubt they would bother killing you. But if you're still scared go to Central city and find this address. Ask for Hartley or James, tell them I sent you. They'll take care of you" Taskmaster drove off leaving behind the doctor

"Now let's go get our pizza on."

OoOoO

"Okay seriously, who is picking up the bill for this?" Artemis asked as she looked down at the table in front of her. They had taken up the largest table possible, easily able to sit twelve people and every inch of it was covered in pizza and breadsticks. In total there were six large pizzas with numerous toppings on each and eight plates of cheesy breadsticks. "I left my wallet at my house, this outfit doesn't allow me to carry much."

"Don't worry about it, just enjoy the food." Robin knew he would have to pick up the bill, he always kept a good deal of money in his utility belt for such events. "I'm paying for this meal, don't worry about eating too much. Taskmaster is going to end up racking up most of the expenses." Robin pointed down the table to where the masked teen was gorging himself on food, he had removed his mouth piece and was devouring as much pizza as he could manage.

"No kidding, I have to go grocery shopping three times a week in order to keep the fridge stocked back in Mount Justice." Megan added as she ate her own food. "It's not all bad though, it gives me chance to practice my cooking."

"_I thank god every day that Taskmaster is able to stomach Megan's cooking. It means I don't have to eat it."_ Superboy whispered to Robin, the boy wonder chuckled at the clone's words.

"I love all food no matter what it is, but my favorite food would have to be Atlantean seafood. I could eat it more often if _someone_ here would just take me to Atlantis again." Taskmaster glared accusingly at Kaldur, the Atlantean shook his head.

"I'm never taking you to Atlantis again…not after what you did last time we were there."

"It was a purely scientific line of questioning, I was simply interested in mermaid anatomy."

"Asking the high priestess where her vagina is located is not a scientific inquiry. I'm still embarrassed, I haven't gone back to the temple since."

"It's not like I was hitting on her. I had to wear a pressure proof scuba suit whenever I was outside the oxygen domes. Besides I can't be the only one curious, all those mermaids swim around without any clothes on their lower bodies and yet I don't see any genitals. How the hell do they reproduce?"

The conversation continued like that for a good amount of time, topics changed and the team ate their food. Eventually Taskmaster pulled himself away from his meal and put his mouthpiece back onto his mask. "Alright guys, now that we are a real team I wanted to run a few things by you all." He began. "I think the most important thing is that we agree on a team name and a theme song. I have a few ideas I'd like to run by you guys."

Everyone at the table let out a collective sigh. Kaldur was the first one to speak up. "Just lay it on us Taskmaster." The masked teen cleared his throat and began.

"I think our team name should be…Ultraforce!" He proudly declared to his friends. They all stared at him with a deadpan expression.

"No" They all chimed in at once. Taskmaster wasn't dissuaded and continued on.

"X-force?"

"No."

"Teen Titans?"

"Better but we won't be Teens forever so it'll wear out quickly." Robin answered. "I don't want to be thirty years old and still referred to as a teen."

"Watchmen?"

"It's already taken and we have females in the group." Megan gestured to herself and Artemis.

"Avengers?"

"What are we supposed to be avenging?" Superboy asked.

"Young Justice?"

"I'm not going to be a part of a group with a lame name like that." Artemis responded lazily as she bit into a breadstick. "Your names are bad and you should feel bad."

"Fine then you guys come up with a name. As for our theme song I have a few demo tapes I've been working on we can listen to back at the cave. "Everyone let out a collective groan, but chose to humor their comrade as they continued their meal. Artemis was watching the night events with a barely suppressed smile. This is what it was like to have friends.

'_All my life I thought I had to be alone, that the lone wolf was the one who would survive…looks like I was wrong.'_ Artemis thought to herself as she integrated with the team. All her life her father had been training her to be a soldier to kill her emotions and be a solitary warrior. She never understood comradery until now. _'I know it's far too soon but I think I'll like these guys.'_

She watched as the group interacting with each other. Robin and Taskmaster were the life of the party, telling wild stories and making inappropriate jokes at every opportunity. Superboy was the tough Rogue who would often misunderstand things and cause unintentional hilarity. Megan was the innocence of the group, completely ignorant of the dirty jokes and often misunderstanding thing. And finally Kaldur was the mediator of the group, keeping everything in order and keeping the peace.

'_Where do I fit in?'_ She wondered. Even now she felt like an outsider but they were still trying to involve her and for that she was grateful. The one she was most focused on was Taskmaster. Out of all the individuals he was the one who she couldn't get a good read on. He was strong, smart, yet at the same time he was an idiot.

'_It's like he has multiple personalities…is he crazy or is he just acting crazy?'_ She wondered to herself as she observed him.

"You see guys Winnie the Pooh is based on psychological problems. Pooh has an eating disorder, Piglet suffers from anxiety, Eeyore has major depression, Tigger has ADHD, Rabbit has OCD, and Christopher Robin is clearly a drug addict if his stuffed animals talk to him." Taskmaster claimed as he went on a ten minute explanation of the deeper messages in cartoons. Artemis had to suppress a sigh.

'_What have I gotten myself into?'_

OoOoO

**Gotham City August 9, 01:16**

"Good God my muscles are killing me." Artemis muttered as she began her trek through Gotham's alleyways. She had joined a team of vigilantes, fought assassins, and made new friends. She was carrying two large pizzas and a huge box of cheesy breadsticks. Her Mom would probably love them, she doubted they got pizza very often in prison.

"Beat up some bad guys and I got a free meal for me and my mother…it was a good day."

"Was it really?" Turning around Artemis saw the form of Red Arrow come out of the shadows. "Enjoy your little act? Pretending to be someone you aren't?" He asked as he walked up to the female hero.

Artemis narrowed her eyes in anger. "Is there a reason for stalking me? Because I have to say I'm flattered but you aren't exactly my type." Red arrow glared at her.

"You might have them fooled but I know for a fact you aren't Green arrows niece." Red Arrow paced around Artemis and was looking at her in a way that made the younger girl feel like a prey being observed by a predator. She was sure if her arms weren't holding pizza boxes she would have drawn her bow by now. "Still Green Arrow and Batman must have a good reason for letting you on the team, so it's fine for now. But here's a little warning." He leaned in close to her. "Do not hurt my friends."

Red Arrow turned around and stalked out of the alleyway. Artemis watched him leave and glared at the older teens back.

"They aren't just your friends anymore…they're also my friends."

OoOoO

Sitting in the middle of a small room sensei was in a meditative stance as numerous computer monitors surrounded him.

"_Report."_

"Before Ojo was captured he managed to transmit the Star labs data but sadly the Wayne Tech data eludes us." Sensei put forward to the numerous figures on the view screens.

"_Once again the young heroes have interfered with our work." One of the screens spoke up. "It is fortunate we have someone on the inside." _

Sensei nodded his agreement.

"_As I understand it you dispatched a small capture team on this mission without out clearance. A dozen men are now in jail along with Hook and Spider. Do you have a reason for this?"_ Another voice asked. Sensei nodded.

"I wished to get more information on the Taskmaster. The men were expendable, I've seen all I needed to see." Sensei dismissed. "Given time he could become one of the deadliest men on the planet, if we were to acquire his body we might be able to improve our basic soldiers without the need for extensive genetic modification. We could create the perfect assassin."

"_We will allow you to pursue him but our plans are too great for resources to be wasted on one young teen…be wise about this." _

The screens all turned off leaving sensei alone.

"It will be worth it…an army of perfect assassins." He muttered to himself as he thought of the possibilities. "Hopefully the assassins don't end up as annoying as Taskmaster that would be a diminishing return…"

OoOoO

**Authors Note**

Don't pelt me with rotten fruit, I know it's been a long time since I updated.

Sorry about the shortness of the chapter 6000 words, I only had 9 minutes of an episode to work with, I should have just attached this to the end of the last chapter but I didn't think it through. Hindsight is 20/20. Also if my writing has changed or become worse it's because I'm rusty. I truly worry about this chapters quality but its the best I could make it given the circumstances and the episodes shortness and lack of humor.

Thank you all for your support and reviews. There were too many to thank individually but thank you all, you helped make this update possible. Also a special thanks to blackblooded1 who requested a Christmas miracle with a heartfelt PM that forced me to finish up this chapter. While I didn't get it done in time for Christmas, consider it a New Year's present.

I can't promise a new update. The show ended which killed my inspiration. But I will promise to re-watch the series on Netflix, hopefully getting my inspiration back…again no promises. Also some people have started forums complaining about this story. Look guys its just a fun little story not meant to be taken seriously so just relax. Although I am flattered that this story could create such a emotional reaction. In the end don't be so angry, its just a harmless little fanfiction full of jokes and pop culture references.

Thanks for reading and have a happy New Year.


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